I agree with Peter Mooney's letter New pope has open mind.

The most acute criticisms of Pope Benedict XVI (Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) arise from his appointment as the head of the Catholic Church's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1981.

Pope Benedict's predecessor, John Paul II, described the function of that Congregation as promoting and safeguarding the doctrine on faith and morals throughout the Catholic world.

That is no easy task. This meant that Cardinal Ratzinger had to focus on what the Roman Catholic Church saw as the truth. It meant that he had to point out and put right theological inaccuracy and falsehoods and rein in heretical and dissenting theologians.

Such a job would inevitably attract brickbats from those who can broadly (but only for a want of a better word) be called liberals.

However, those who understand and are familiar with his former function and his extensive and incisive writing - like Mooney and many others - have a high regard for him as a gifted theologian and a man of unbending and sound faith with a steadfast devotion to the truth.