The 265th Pope. What's Different?

Joseph Ratzinger was elected Tuesday night as the new Pope. The crowd cheered loudly for this new Pope. Joseph Ratzinger has chosen the name of Pope Bendict XVI. This makes me wonder, could anyone choose to have any name when elected Pope? I'm not sure. But that would be pretty cool if you could. Joseph is from Germany and so selected the name of Benedict because of his location and added the number to make himself feel old. This man has held positions prior to this that easily make him a suitable candidate. He has been a Cardinal since 1977. He has been the dean for the College of Cardinals since 2002. And now, he has been named Pope at the age of 78. This makes me wonder, if the previous Pope died at the age of 84, will this one last any longer? I hope so, but this topic really doesn't matter that much to me.