Pope Benedict : Year 1 in review

John Allen at the National Catholic Reporter offers an overview of Pope Benedict's first year. Interesting reading. Money quotes:

If one were to stop the average Catholic in the United States, to say nothing of the average person, and ask, "What do you know about the new pope?" I suspect many could say that he put out something about gay priests, and quite a few would be aware that he wears Prada shoes -- and that's about it. In terms of any real sense of what the pope's trying to say, or where he's trying to lead the church, most would be a blank slate.
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One prominent American conservative put it this way, speaking on background: "We thought we were electing Ronald Reagan, but so far we're stuck with Jimmy Carter."
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There is, however, one intriguing area of contrast: Islam. To put it bluntly, Benedict is more of a hawk, pursuing a kind of interaction with Muslims one might call "tough love."
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John Paul II will likely be remembered in history as a great evangelist. He took his show on the road, dramatically expanding the visibility and relevance of the papacy, awakening a much stronger sense among Catholics of the need to bring their faith convictions to their public and professional responsibilities. He was a pope who moved history as few have. His texts, however, could sometimes be a bit wooden and hard to follow, laden as they sometimes were with the vocabulary of philosophical personalism.

Benedict, on the other hand, is shaping up as a great teacher. It has struck many observers in Rome that he is still drawing larger-than-usual crowds for his Wednesday General Audience and for the Sunday Angelus address. Speaking afterwards with the people who show up, it's striking how often they give some version of the following reaction: "I can understand him."

The difference can be expressed this way: People came to see John Paul, they come to hear Benedict.