Well the church doesn't tell my country how to run things (this guy will certainly vehemently oppose marriage equality and birth control in Spain more actively then JP II)...
I think that the new pope will be a good one, most of his views are the same as Pope John Paul's, so thats a plus. However I don't believe he will be nearly as succesful as John Paul.
He used to be a member of the Hitler Youth apparently. His nick-name is Gods Rottweiler and I believe he's makes JP II apprear fairly liberal.
I wish they'd pick someone who actual lives in the presant day and not 300 years ago.
Well Christianity itself is against the idea and concept of Homosexuality. So you can't blame Popes or whoever holds a high position in the Church, to be homophobic.
Actually there are a lot of sects that promote tolerance towards gay people. He also told Spain what to do with the marriage issue for example. Spain didn't really listen though.