The news hit the Bavarian village of Marktl am Inn like a creeping earthquake.
First the phones started ringing, then the doors opened as locals ran out to share the news. Joseph Ratzinger, born here 78 years ago as the son of the local police officer, is Pope.
Not since Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the doors of Wittenberg Cathedral in 1517 has a German had such influence on the church.
Last night in Marktl am Inn, a village of just 2,800 people near the Austrian border and so small the phone numbers have three digits, the realisation only slowly began to set in.
Crowds gathered within minutes in front of the house where Ratzinger was born, a white, rangy A-frame structure with five windows across the top floor.
But the real celebrations were across the road, at the Oberbräu pub.
"It's just been an incredible mood here. We heard the news like everyone else on the television, there were people weeping and cheering.
"We're not drinking champagne though, just raising a beer glass," said Josef Westenkirchner, landlord of the pub.
Customers joked that the new Pope's birthday present came three days late - he was born across the road on April 16th, 1927. Mr Westenkirchner met Cardinal Ratzinger five years ago when he became an honorary citizen of Marktl and describes him as a "very worthy choice" as pope.
"He was the right-hand-man of John Paul. I hope he will have the same style."
"I knew Ratzinger, he confirmed me, but I certainly wouldn't choose him as pope," said Alois Wagner, owner of a nearby guesthouse.
"When I look at Ratzinger, at his aura, I don't see the same warmth as John Paul, who was a man of the people. Ratzinger is a man of books, but does the church need someone like him now?
" I was raised very religious but even here in Marktl the teenagers are leaving the church."
The tone of doubt is typical of the reaction that Ratzinger, a love-hate figure for decades, arouses in Germany.
The people of Marktl have watched with great interest the rise of Joseph Ratzinger, even though he moved from the town when he was three.
They dismiss media discussion of his membership of the Hitler Youth, particularly in British newspapers last weekend.
He never hid his past, say locals, and his father quit the police force in 1927 rather than join the National Socialist Party of Adolf Hitler. The young Ratzinger only joined the Hitler Youth after it became mandatory, left as soon as possible to join the seminary and never hid the episode. He was ordained a priest in 1951 and became professor of dogma at Freisinger University aged just 30.
He remained in the academic world for two decades, teaching in Münster, Tübingen and Regensburg.
He first attracted headlines in 1968 when he preached against the student riots then sweeping Germany.
"Every day new sects are created," he said, noting the church had to stand firm against outside influences, "from Marxism to free-market liberalism to even libertarianism, from collectivism to radical individualism, from atheism to a vague religious mysticism, from agnosticism to syncretism and so on."
He moved from the world of academia in March 1977 when he became archbishop of Munich and Freising. Just three months later, on June 27th, he was elevated to cardinal.
No one seemed more surprised about the choice than Georg Ratzinger, the new Pope's older brother. Mr Ratzinger (81) lives in Regensburg and until a few days ago, anyone who asked about his brother's chances on his regular walks through town, got the answer: "My brother will most definitely not be Pope."
But last week, as the media speculation grew, he started to relativise his argument.
"You wouldn't normally give a man of this age such a responsible position," he said on Monday. Last night his phone was permanently engaged as he talked to his brother in the Vatican.
The speculation around Cardinal Ratzinger in recent days was watched with interest in Germany, as was the news that German cardinals were allegedly his chief obstacle to becoming pope.