Curiouser

So I'm Googlesurfing for downloadable prayers for the new pontiff, and I see a Google entry titled "Looking backward from year 2015" in which somebody, very tongue-in-cheek, delivers a pretend 'retrospectus' on the events that led to a resurgence of the American Episcopal church, for which they even coined an historical nomenclature, "The Great Realignment". In it I found the following quote:

The trigger event for the Realignment was the unexpected election of Benedict XVI to the papacy in late 2002, after the death of Bl. John Paul the Theologian. Pope Benedict, a young African priest-monk, had been unexpectedly raised to the College of Cardinals in John Paul II’s final — and unexpected — consistory in mid-2001, and quickly became known as one of the few princes of the Church who combined administrative acumen with holiness of life, greatness as a preacher, and compassion for the poor.

What gets me is that the person who owns this Angelfire website and composed this fake retrospectus presaged the name choice of our current pontiff, but believed that it would be an African priest-monk. I was predicting Arinze would be elected (or casting my fancy in that direction-- I never really made any predictions), but I never saw the name Benedict on the radar. How brainsplittingly nutty is that!?!? Who is this guy??? And how did he arrive at predicting the name Benedict for the next pope???

Here is his blog. In it, you may find another clue as to the name selection of Benedict XVI: it could represent a deliberate attempt to align with an historical epoch that predates Vatican II. I hadn't considered that.