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Godwin’s Law can only be invoked if the comparison is to Nazis.

Considering that the involvement of the Ratzinger family with the Nazi’s is a documented historical fact instead of just an accusation or comparison, your attempt to invoke Godwin’s Law fails.

That said, I do not consider what one does as a teenager to be of much consequence myself. People often change as they mature and what they do as a teen does not set their personality or character in stone.

It’s what he does and says now that concerns me more.

Considering that the involvement of the Ratzinger family with the Nazi’s is a documented historical fact

Let's take a look at the FACTS that can actually be documented:

1. Joseph Ratzinger, Sr. was a police officer. ALL German police forces were taken over by the SS in 1936. He retired in 1937. That is a documented FACT.

2. In 1941 at the age of 14, Joseph Ratzinger, Jr. was forced into the Hitler Youth, all indications are that he never attended a single meeting. That is a documented FACT (And yes, I am well aware of the difficulties that anti-Catholic bigots seem to have with the notion that it is impossible to prove that he never attended a meeting; however, since the bigots are the ones using his membership to advance their agenda, it is THEIR duty to prove if he attended any. Keep in mind that the Pope has long been a well-known figure in Germany and Italy, if someone had seen Him at a meeting, they probably would have come forward by now).

3. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins was forcibly euthanized in the Nazi Akton T-4 Program. That is a documented FACT.

4. In 1943, while a seminary student, Ratzinger was inducted into an anti-aircraft unit. Toward the end of the war he would desert when his unit collapsed and he spent a short time in a POW camp. That is a documented FACT.

5. In 1945, right after the war ended, Ratzinger reentered the seminary. That is a documented FACT.

Now for the FALSEHOODS used to try to make the Ratzingers Nazis:

1. Ratzinger's 1951 ordination photo has been cropped (to make it appear that he was giving a Nazi salute) and posted on this forum. That is a documented FACT.

2. A photo has been posted on here that purports to show Ratzinger in the late 1930s (when he was not yet a teenager) as a priest for high-ranking Nazis (who the bigots couldn't even label correctly). That is a documented FACT.

I've got to say the Religion Forum at FR is a fascinating place.

Every year at Christmas and Easter the media puts "specials" on TV to try to prove the Christianity is based on a myth. And every August and December on FR, the anti-Catholics post threads to prove the same thing. It's really quite comical to watch.

I almost think it's time for a new "law" for the FR Religion Forum:

An anti-Catholic thread, if it continues long enough, will eventually contain some version of ALL of the following:

1. Everything Catholics believe about the Blessed Virgin Mary is false, she was just picked because God needed her womb.
2. Saint Peter was never pope, in fact Jesus was mocking him when He changed his name to Peter.
3. John Chapter 6 and Matthew Chapter 25 DO NOT mean what they say (e.g. sola scriptura is supplanted by Protestant tradition on this portion of the Bible).
4. Catholics never read the Bible.
5. The Pope is a Nazi.

It's true that children should not be held to the same measure as adults. But the sad and questionable thing about Ratzinger's ascent to pope is that in all the world Rome could find no man "worthy" of the office other than a man who had belonged to the Hitler Youth, who shot at Allied planes during his time in a German anti-aircraft unit and who was an Allied prisoner of war.

Not one man.