The Bishop of Oxford thinks an opportunity was missed

The Right Reverend Richard Harries, who backed the controversial appointment of a gay Bishop of Reading, said Cardinal Ratzinger was the wrong man for Pope.

He was speaking the day after the 78-year-old religiously conservative German took the name Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Tuesday.

"I have to say I am disappointed," the bishop told BBC Radio Oxford.

'Difficult appointment

"I think it is important to remember that the vast majority of Catholics around the world are young, are poor and are women and I think one can quite properly ask whether a 78-year-old West European male is the best person to articulate the very pressing concerns of these literally millions of people."

The Reverend Richard Thomas, a spokesman for the Oxford Diocese, added that Bishop Harries saw the appointment of Cardinal Ratzinger as an opportunity missed by the Catholic Church to bolster its relationship with the Anglican Church.

"It's a difficult appointment," he said. "Many of us were delighted with the progress made under Pope John Paul II.

"In a way the warmth of the relationship with him overcame the doctrinal differences, whereas with Cardinal Ratzinger, it has never been there."

Bishop Harries supported the appointment of Jeffrey John as Bishop of Reading despite his being forced to stand down from the post due to his homosexuality.