Posted on 04/19/2005 1:38:13 PM PDT by yoely
BERLIN — In May 1945, thousands of German prisoners of war trudged down the highway toward the Bavarian town of Bad Aibling (search). Among them — tired but grateful to be alive — was 18-year-old Joseph Ratzinger (search), who just days before had risked death by deserting the German army.
"In three days of marching, we hiked down the empty highway, in a column that gradually became endless," the new pope recalled years later in his memoirs.
"The American soldiers photographed us, the young ones, most of all, in order to take home souvenirs of the defeated army and its desolate personnel."
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Awesome post--thanks for it! Couldn't be more timely, with the MSM and the Left clamoring for dirt or controversy...
"A local teacher, he remembered, became an ardent follower of the new movement, and tried to institute a pagan May pole ritual as more fitting of Germanic ways than the traditional, conservative Catholicism."
May Pole = Asherath Pole.
Liberalism = Satan.
Some things never change.
he was a nazi.......shezam!
The Nazis were anti-Christian? That's not going to sit well with the left.
Oh, no. What has the Catholic church become?
Denote sarcasm.
Great post, yoely.
He's a hero. And someone was spreading a story that he was a Nazi. For God's sake!!
BUSH's (sr) fault
Having been in Hitler Youth or Hitler's army in Germany at that time means nothing. I knew another very holy priest, Fr. Karl Patzelt, who had also been conscripted into Hitler's army. He was taken from a Jesuit seminary and sent to the battlefield as a stretcher bearer (because the men sent out to pick up the wounded during the battle often got killed themselves, and seminarians were clearly expendable).
Unfortunately for him, he was captured by the Russian Army and spent 10 years in a Gulag. When he emerged it was with the desire to preach to the Russian people. He changed to the Byzantine Rite and became a Jesuit whose mission it was to prepare for the fall of Communism. For many years, he was the pastor of Our Lady of Fatima Church in San Francisco. He was one of the few genuinely holy priests I have ever met.
I would not call any German in WWII a hero. Sorry that is just not in the vocabulary.
Ratzinger a Nazi? Don't believe it
Jerusalem Post ^ | Apr. 18, 2005 | Sam Ser
Posted on 04/19/2005 12:52:18 PM EDT by Alouette
Was he engaged in battle with US forces? It seems he might have been. In his biography, he is mum about some details.
It probably saved his life....
That IS the right word.
I just think its a bad P.R. move. I hope a can a worms does not come out of this.
To avoid duplication, please do not change the title. Thanks.
Oh come on....he was drafted(forced) into the auxiliary anti-aircraft services towards the end of the war. It was ether join or be shot. It's not like he was a member of the SS or SA.....please
Let's just hope that really was his position back then. Like I said I just do not think this is a good P.R. move. If this guy by any chance was not upfront about his Service, then this is going to be a can of worms.
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