This week Pope Benedict XVI completed his first year in office, having been elected on the conclave's fourth ballot last April 19. The reaction to his election, as many readers will recall, extended all the way from jubilation at one end of the ecclesiastical spectrum to demoralization at the other.

One year later, however, the situation looks very different. Father Richard John Neuhaus, one of then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's most enthusiastic supporters, reports a "palpable uneasiness" among conservative Catholics regarding the direction the new pope intends to take, and a particular concern about some of his appointments.

Father Neuhaus's editorial commentary in the February issue of First Things magazine included specific references to the naming of Archbishop William Levada to head the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith --- an appointment, Father Neuhaus wrote, that has "occasioned widespread puzzlement," presumably among those who were elated by Cardinal Ratzinger's election. There was a second critical reference to the appointment of Bishop George Niederauer as now-Cardinal Levada's successor in San Francisco.

Neither, it was suggested, has been tough enough on gays. Indeed, a commonly used epithet one finds on certain Catholic blogs these days is "gay-friendly." Bishops who merit that description --- whatever it means exactly --- are considered the "bad guys" of the U.S. Catholic hierarchy.

Let there be no mistake about it. Many Catholics on the right fully expected --- and hoped --- that Benedict XVI would use his extraordinary powers to crush theologians, bishops and members of religious orders whom they regard as heretical, "gay-friendly" or critics of church teaching on human sexuality.

Significantly, there was no mention in the First Things article of the new pope's meeting with the bete noire of the Catholic right, the Swiss theologian Hans Küng. The audience occurred at the pope's summer residence in Castel Gandolfo toward the end of September.

There were several aspects of the visit that were of particular significance. First, Father Küng had made the same request of Pope John Paul II over the course of 25 years, following the withdrawal of his ecclesiastical license to teach theology on a Catholic faculty. John Paul II consistently refused to see him.

Although Hans Küng had been publicly critical of Cardinal Ratzinger's election to the papacy last April, the new pope responded almost immediately to his former colleague's request for a meeting, and suggested the date and location.

Second, this was no ordinary audience with Pope Benedict XVI. The two met for four hours, and enjoyed a private dinner together.

Third, at the meeting's end, the pope himself drafted a statement for the media but would not authorize its release until Hans Küng had an opportunity to read and approve it. Not only the meeting, but also this unusually gracious gesture, would have been unthinkable in the previous pontificate.

Father Küng subsequently described the meeting as "very joyful," with "no reproaches [or] polemics," and characterized it overall as "a sign of hope for many in the Church with the same vision as mine."

It is difficult to say how Catholics who share Hans Küng's "vision" assess the new pope. Some are clearly relieved that he has not come out of the starting-gate breathing fire and wielding a hammer of merciless repression. Others are perhaps guardedly optimistic because of his self-effacing, laid-back style, his obvious humility, and his readiness to listen as well as to speak.

I have found that, whenever I have spoken about this new pontificate in essentially positive terms, the reaction of progressive Catholics is, at first, one of surprise, and then of hope. Some remain unconvinced, but insist that they are keeping an open mind.

But one thing that surely cannot be said of Catholics on that side of the ecclesiastical spectrum is that they feel a "palpable uneasiness" about the new pontificate. On the contrary, they seem at once amused and reassured when it is pointed out that the only Catholics nowadays who seem worried are those who shouted themselves hoarse at the news of last year's election.

The new pope has just turned 79. While one wishes him a long and healthy life, one also has to be realistic. John Paul II was elected at age 58 and became, after 26-and-a-half years in office, the second-longest reigning pope in history (not counting St. Peter himself).

Benedict XVI's pontificate is not likely to reach even John Paul II's halfway mark, and he may also be the kind of pope who would resign his office in the face of seriously deteriorating health --- for the good of the Church and the papacy itself.

Only God knows how long the new pontificate will last, but it has begun well.

Father Richard P. McBrien is the Crowley-O'Brien Professor of Theology at the University of Notre Dame.