Germany: Right Face

One of the world’s most powerful Germans lives in Rome. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, 63, is prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and thus guardian of church orthodoxy for 900 million Roman Catholics. It is said that Pope John Paul II makes no important decisions without consulting Ratzinger, who was born in Marktl am Inn, Bavaria. Conservatives are grateful to have the brilliant theologian as an ally in the Vatican; liberals like to suggest that he stands to the right of Torquemada.