VATICAN CITY (AP) - With unusual speed and little surprise, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany became Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday, a 78-year-old transitional leader who promises to enforce strictly conservative policies for the world's Roman Catholics.

Appearing on St. Peter's Basilica balcony as dusk fell, a red cape over his new white robes, the white-haired Ratzinger called himself ``a simple, humble worker.'' The crowd responded to the 265th pope by waving flags and chanting ``Benedict! Benedict!''