... international newspapers, if not the usual scaredy-pants American ones when it comes to the Roman Catholic Church, gave Parker a run for her money last month.

"White Smoke, Black Past," trumpeted the headline in Israel's Yediot Aharonot. "From Hitler Youth to ... Papa Ratzi" roared London's Sun, indelicately describing Cardinal Ratzinger as an "ex-World War II enemy soldier." German papers proved harshest on his doctrinal present and personality. "Ratzinger is the Counter-Reformation personified," asserted the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Assessing Pope Benedict XVI in the light of scholarship helps balance the American media's reflexive treatment of the Vatican as an alluring postage-stamp monarchy, a mini-Monaco with credos rather than chips on the gaming tables, a Broadway set outfitted with grandfatherly players and splendid regalia.