Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth

timesonline.co.uk ^ | 4-17-05 | Justin Sparks

[nfldgirl]

A former boss of mine was in Hitler Youth.

I don't know for sure, but wouldn't be surprised to learn that a former boss of mine was in the Hitler Youth as well--altough he would have been only 6-8 years old, so maybe not. Interesting, he looked identical to Omar Shariff, especially when he was younger (in the 70s-80s...I saw this in pictures of him). Occasionally, I would hear him on the phone--he usually spoke in German with his German colleagues--and I would hear him say "Heil Hitler" when he was getting ready to hang up. My DH says it was probably done in gest between two "old" colleagues...nothing serious intended by it. He was a very difficult man to work with, although personally I had no problems with him; but he sure alienated everyone else in the organization. He was an incredibly smart man, a genius in his field, an inventor (blood dialyzers for kidney dialysis treatment)...I will never forget him.

[B Knotts]

Regardless, the Church teaches that while homosexuality is certainly objectively disordered, homosexuals are not themselves denounced.

The Times deliberately used a falsehood to make Cardinal Ratzinger seem "scarier."

[AmishDude]

It's a smear because the salient facts -- including the fact that membership was compulsory -- is buried in the story and undermines the splashy headline.

[B Knotts]

The Pope is a baby-strangling, Jew-gassing, Hitler-praising Nazi.

If Cardinal Ratzinger is elected, that will be the headline in the New York Times.

[Lazamataz]

It takes a while to get used to me.

Of course, it also takes a while to get used to Herpes.

[visualops]

Yep

[Lazamataz]

If Cardinal Ratzinger is elected, that will be the headline in the New York Times

And Katie Couric will be on Good Morning America, interviewing someone, and she'll do the old 'some say' thing. It will sound like this: "Some say the Pope is a baby-strangling, Jew-gassing, Hitler-praising Nazi who was second-in-command of the Third Reich. Some say the Pope helped Hitler write "Mein Kampf" when he was in prison. Some say the Pope took great joy in personally shooting Jews. Can you comment?"

[Puddleglum]

And this headline just in:

"Apostle to the Gentiles Former Christian Persecuter!"

[RightWhale]

That's right. The Hitlerjugend attempted to build sound bodies at least, if not deep thought. They spent a lot of time on long hikes and swimming and singing while hiking if not while swimming.

[Puddleglum]

oops - great minds think alike!

[billbears]

Oh yes, buried. All of halfway down. 4th paragraph states he was not involved in any atrocities but does point out the irony between his service and JPII. One third of the way down it states clearly

He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” concluded John Allen, his biographer.

Yeah, real buried. All media reports need something to catch the attention of the reader and the headline does its job well. I don't see a smear at all. It's explained quite well.

[clintonh8r]

I'm not Catholic either, but I care who the pope is because he influences more than a billion people. That makes it worth caring about.

[AmishDude]

Read further.

[pepperdog]

Who is writing for them, Ward Churchill? The old "he was a Nazi" thing is getting pretty thin isn't it? Anyone who grew up in Germany during the years of WWII was a Hilter Youth. I'm sure many people on FR know personally people who were HY's, it was practically mandatory in Germany.

[murphE]

He upset many Jews with a statement in 1987 that Jewish history and scripture reach fulfilment only in Christ — a position denounced by critics as “theological anti-semitism”. He made more enemies among other religions in 2000, when he signed a document, Dominus Jesus, in which he argued: “Only in the Catholic church is there eternal salvation”.

What arrogance Ratzinger displays. /sarcasm

“theological anti-semitism”

Does anyone else find that term as humorous as I do?

[pepperdog]

Now you are really scaring me, that sounds like a fat camp, and you know fat people are now on "The List" don't you? Please don't give the thought/eating police any ammunition.

[katana]

He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941

This sort of puts the word "joined" into perspective. That being said, I'd be more worried about his age (78) than anything else, although some may actually favor a short term figure after one of the longest serving (and toughest acts to follow) Popes in history.

[timtoews5292004]

It remains to be seen just how much influence they truly have. The media is certainly trying hard to be influential in the situation. We will have to see the final vote tally before we can say anything about their actual influence.

[Tanniker Smith]

Because this election can be so unpredictable, every Cardinal is getting a littl of the smearing, even the unlikely ones. (Consider, how likely was a Polish pope the last time around?) There was even a story how one Cardinal like pasta a la puttenesca, which is literally, pasta a la prostitute. (Oh, my, horrors! No!)

TS

[vox_freedom]

From article: He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp.

That pretty much sums up his "involvement" as far as I'm concerned. Of course, there is no way to appease those who want to impugn Card Ratzinger and his decades of service to God and man.