Italian reaction: Modern Italians may be a la carte about their Catholicism but as anyone who has been in and around St Peter's Square for the last three weeks can testify, they are not indifferent to the figure of the Pope.
Yesterday's Italian media coverage of the election of Benedict XVI reflected that umbilical cord linking Italians and the Catholic faith with TV, radio and newspapers devoting huge space to the new Pope.
More than 10 million Italians watched the two-hour live coverage on state channel RAI of Pope Benedict's first public appearance on the balcony of the Basilica of St Peter's on Tuesday night.
As for the newspapers, all of Italy's leading dailies were dominated by coverage of the papal election, with many of them dedicating more than half their entire issues to the new Pope. While the tone of the coverage was overwhelmingly positive, some commentators did strike a negative chord when recalling Benedict XVI's hard-line attitude in enforcing doctrinal orthodoxy in his previous role as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
"They have chosen as Pope the best of all the cardinals," noted the Rome-based Il Messaggero. You could see this coming for days. We've known about him for years.
"The cardinals did not yield to base human calculations. the prefect of the faith, the guardian of orthodoxy emerged as the natural conclusion to the search for a major personality who would not pale by comparison with John Paul II. The cardinals could have changed direction entirely by opting for a Third World pope. Instead, the choice fell on the one great cardinal, here in Rome."
Another Rome daily, La Repubblica, highlighted the fact that Cardinal Ratzinger had been the ante-post favourite, drawing attention to his very different style by comparison with his illustrious predecessor.
"Joseph Ratzinger was the only cardinal of the Holy Roman Church who went into conclave with a packet of votes already attached to his name. In the second foreign [ non-Italian] pope of modern times, we immediately noticed a different tone, different gestures. He showed himself to the faithful in St Peter's but he did not give himself to the crowd."
Former Communist daily L'Unità also highlighted the differences between the two popes, saying: "He was very close to John Paul II but he is not John Paul II. He has blue eyes, a timid smile and white hair but he inspires respect more than warmth.
"This was a prudent if authoritative choice on the part of the conclave. This was a choice intended to underline continuity without indicating much about the future. This was a no risks choice at a moment when the College of Cardinals was perhaps worried by the idea of internal division."
Turin-based La Stampa also underlined continuity: "We can now say in these hours of continuity between one pontificate and another that Cardinal Ratzinger, the man of the pastoral letter Dominus Jesus, which outlined his original condemnation of the dictatorship of (moral) relativism, was secretly the dauphin of Pope John Paul II.".
Some commentators attempted to debunk Benedict XVI's well-earned negative public persona, that of the Holy See's doctrinal watchdog. In a front-page piece, Il Messaggero comments: "In private conversation with him, the new Pope showed himself to be very different from his public persona. He is a gentle, trustworthy man more willing to listen than to express a contrary opinion."