MSM likes Pope Benedict XVI, they really, really like him!

Post Gazette offers a fair appraisal

Surprise! The Pope is Catholic, and he welcomes all Catholics. He's not becoming a Son of Thunder that kicks in doors and takes down the names of those breaking back into the Cafeteria. He's not the Doctrinal Rotweiller that will ignore the poor and the hopeless.

Instead, he's a shepard. He's a worker in the vineyard of the Lord. He finds in his heart a call to bring unity to Christianity, where tragically division reigns. He calls all of us, Catholic and non-Catholic alike, to follow Jesus. He does this while upholding the truth of who Christ's mystical body is. People begin to get him. Especially the young. They want truth; He's willing to give it to them. Much like another great pope I once knew.

Post-Gazette appears to get it as well:

"The early signs are that he is committed to being the best pastoral pope he can be," Wuerl said. As head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger focused on his assigned duty to guard against error. As pope he knows he is called to do far more, Wuerl said.

"The way in which he has taken this on, it's almost a change in personality, but it's not. He is adapting his style to the exigencies of the office," Wuerl said. "What we are seeing is a warmth, a conscious effort to reach out."

His crowds are far larger than those of Pope John Paul II at the same time last year. Sunday addresses from his apartment window have drawn up to 100,000 people.

This particular passage reveals just what kind of effect our new Holy Father has on those that come to him:

Benedict gave a meditation on Psalm 111, then a recap and greetings in 11 languages.

"The Psalm invites us at the end to discover all the good things the Lord gives us every day. We see more easily the negative aspects of our life. The Psalm invites us to see the positive also, the many gifts we receive, and so find gratitude, as only a grateful heart can celebrate worthily the liturgy of thanksgiving, the Eucharist," Benedict said.

Sarah Boone, a law student from Tulane University attending Duquesne's summer law program in Rome, was impressed.

"His focus was on a person's feelings about their relationship with God and the church," said Boone, who is not Catholic. "I've never heard a papal address before. I expected it to be more doctrinal, but it was more personal."

We are blessed to have a shepard such as he.