Posted on 05/10/2009 10:56:29 AM PDT by presidio9
THE Pope will be given unprecedented security when he arrives in Israel tomorrow because of fears that his brief enrolment in the Hitler Youth as a boy of 14 could trigger an assassination attempt by Jewish zealots.
The Israeli government has ordered Shin Bet, the domestic security service, to take command of the visit. Four Audi armoured cars have been imported from Germany and security chiefs have banned the use of the familiar glass-sided “Popemobile” except for a short journey in Nazareth.
In Jordan yesterday, on the first stage of his middle eastern tour, the pontiff held a meeting with Muslim leaders to express “deep respect” for Islam. He offended Muslims in a speech in 2006 in which he quoted a Medieval scholar who linked Islam to violence.
In Israel Benedict XVI’s German nationality, his service in Hitler’s army, his support for the proposed beatification of Pius XII – known in Israel as the “Nazi pope” – and his decision to revoke the excommunication of Richard Williamson, the British bishop and Holocaust denier, have all sparked anger. The Pope was forced to apologise for mishandling the Williamson affair.
General Giora Eiland, the former head of Israel’s national security council, reflected the views of many Israelis. “It would have been better if the visit wasn’t taking place,” he said. “The Pope’s service in the Wehrmacht is a stain.”
The Vatican insists that Joseph Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth only because it was compulsory and did not attend its meetings. He was drafted into an antiaircraft corps in 1943 and trained in the infantry, but deserted in the last months of the war.
“The fact that he was a member of the Hitler Youth and later served in the German army
(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...
Not at all.
Check your gear, your sarcasmeter might be jammed.
This time of night, you need to ring a gong or send up a flare to warn me about sarcasm.
I have read about Ratsinger’s past. He was both a Hitler Youth and apparently guarded a BMW plant making engines. He wasn’t a higher eschelon Nazi, and I wasn’t implying he was. My intention was to try to see it from the Jews perspective rather than just glibbly dismiss their concerns as some on this thread are doing.
Ratzinger did not join the HJ.
The HJ joined him.
What's brown and sounds like a bell?
Resistence was possible. You may have paid an awful price, but it was possible.
Still, that again wasn’t my point which you seem to be deliberately ignoring. Thus, I will ignore any further conversation about it with you. Good evening.
I have to seriously doubt anyone who says they “have read about Ratsinger’s past.”
“Ratsinger” is how it is pronounced in English, but the correct spelling is Ratzinger. Someone who has learned about him without reading would make that mistake.
Maybe you should start another Prayer Thread like the one’s you run praying for Obama.
...I don’t know...maybe for good relations between Jewish people and Christian people.
Most times the resistant did not pay a thing, his family did. Of course, Ratzinger's family had already been forced to sacrifice a mentally-challenged child to the Nazi sausage machine.
But hey, who am I to interrupt your judgments?
Who's doing that?
Name names.
That was crass, unfunny and uncalled for.
I don’t know whether you’re Catholic or Jewish, but I agree with you on that one. Is see this article from the Britsh press as a product of two common sentiments on the left: A hatred of all things Catholic, for the normal socio-political reasons, and an attept to discredit right in Isreal. The Palestinians are the good guy’s when the left is reporting, and any small reason a journalist might find to remind everyone that Joseph Ratzinger was tight with Goering and spent the war hunting down Jews and homosexuals is like opening up the bar to an alchoholic. These are the same people who group what’s happing in Ireland right now with what’s happening in Gaza, just because even coverage of terrorism requires a certain amound of affirmative action. Got to meet the white faces quota somehow.
Isreal has its handful of nutjobs, just like any other country. That’s all this is. The British press actually thinks we still have a KKK problem in this country. And they’re the ones with skinheads running all over the place.
I have no idea what you are talking about, and you are hijacking my perfectly good thread. Please take it somewhere else sir. Thanks.
That's stupid for so many reasons that I hardly know where to begin. I'll give you the first two:
First, because it's pretty obvious that you have no idea what the Hitler Youth was if you're comparing it to the KKK.
Second, because only someone who knew nothing about Christianity, would ever make that statement. The most important Christian who ever lived was a Jewish persecuter of Christians until he converted.
That was going to be number three for me, but I figured I'd give a few other people a chance.
First, not true. Second, not in recent times. Not only did Catholic have nothing to do with the Holocaust, but there were nearly as many Catholic victims as there were Jewish ones (at least three million Catholics in Poland alone). Not a lot of people are aware of that.
I agree that Jews have had a hard time throughout history, but blaming the Catholic Church specifically is more than a little bigoted. And don't you dare start talking about the Spanish Inqusition unless you come prepared with facts and numbers. Persecution happened there, but the extent that it was directed specifically at jews is blown far out of proportion.
Let me get this straight: So 16 year-old Jospeh Ratzinger was drafted into homeland anti-aircraft defense under presumed penalty of death and then deserted anyway. And that somehow makes him "part of the Regime?" I don't think so.
Please start. No doubt your assumptions are based on the same old lies.
It’s not a joke son. Listen to some of the things you’ve been saying and take a look in the mirror.
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