“Seig Heiling Hitler enthusiast to head the Church of Rome?”
The only response warranted to such a lame remark is my tagline.
Criticism of Joseph Ratzinger:
Hitler Jugend: Joseph Ratzingers claims about the Hitler Youth are not true. Compulsory membership was first defined in 1936 and reinforced in 1939, not in 1941 as he says. Ratzinger also says that he was still too young at the time, but he was 14 in 1941 and not too young at all: between the ages of 10 and 14, membership in the Deutsche Jungvolk (a group for younger children) was mandatory. Yet there is no mention of Raztinger belonging. If he had managed to avoid the required membership in the Deutsche Jungvolk, why did he suddenly join the Hitler Youth in 1941?
Resistance: Both Joseph Ratzinger and his brother, Georg, have said that resistance was impossible at the time and, therefore, its not surprising or morally culpable that they also went along. This is also not true. First, its insulting to the many who risked their lives to resist the Nazi regime, both in organized cells and on an individual basis. Second, there are many examples of those who refused service in the Hitler Youth for a variety of reasons.
Whatever the Ratzinger family did and whatever Joseph Ratzingers father did, it wasnt enough to be arrested or sent to a concentration camp. It doesnt even appear to have been enough to warrant being detained and questioned by the Gestapo.
Military: Although it is true that Ratzinger deserted the military rather than continue fighting, he didnt do so until April 1945, when the end of the war was quite close.
Resolution
There is absolutely no reason to think that Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, is now or has ever been secretly a Nazi. Nothing he has ever said or done even remotely suggests the slightest sympathy with any of the basic Nazi ideas or goals. Any claim that he is a Nazi is implausible at best. However, that is not the end of the story.
While Ratzinger was not a Nazi in the past and Benedict XVI is not a Nazi now, there is more than enough reason to question his handling of his past. It appears that he hasnt been honest with others and probably not honest with himself about what he did and what he could have done.
Its simply not true that resistance was impossible at the time. Difficult, yes; dangerous, yes. But not impossible. John Paul II participated in anti-Nazi theater performances in Poland, yet there is no evidence of Joseph Ratzinger even doing this much.
Ratzinger may have done more than many others to resist, but he also did far less that some. Its certainly understandable that he wouldnt have had the courage to do more and, were he any average person, that would be the end of the story. But he isnt an average person, is he? Hes the pope, a person who is supposed to be the successor of Peter, head of the Christian Church, and symbol of unity for all Christendom.
You dont have to be morally perfect to hold such a position, but its not unreasonable to expect such a person to have come to terms with their moral failings, even the moral failings that occurred in youth when we dont usually expect a great deal. It was an understandable mistake or failing not to do more against the Nazis, but still a failing that he hasnt come to terms with it sounds rather like he is in denial. In a sense, he has yet to repent; yet he was still considered the best of all the candidates for the papacy.