Vatican Called Out For Denying Pope's Admitted, Forced Hitler Youth Membership

Telegraph:

The Vatican blundered into a fresh public relations fiasco on Tuesday after seeking to rewrite the biography of Pope Benedict XVI by denying that he was ever a member of the Hitler Youth.

Read the whole story: Telegraph

Comments

[AhnAmuru]

Let's not forget that after the Hitler Youth he matriculated into the Wehrmacht where he manned AA 88's.

It would be nice to know how many allied airmen he gunned down.

[Paulo1]

Hmm notice the words. It is always in the choice of words.

Since they can not successfully deny that he was a member of the Hitler Youth they now say he was "forced". Such a nice word with so many connotations.

Notice that there is not explanation of what coercion was used against him or what actions he took to avoid the organization. Nor is there any comment about passive resistance while supposedly an unwilling member. Only a gaping hole of information which can be filled any way a person chooses to.

Perhaps he was simply listed on the roles due to mandatory rules. Perhaps he was simply doing what every other young boy his age did out of patriotism without buying into the ideology. But perhaps not.

The archconservative views, the intolerance for other cultures, the willing dehumanizing of gay people all argue that he imbibed more than a little from the organization he was "forced" to join.

[Macready]

Wonder how the pope will react to the Jerusalem Wall . . . and how the israelis will react to that . . . I am with ISEE Dumb People on one point . . I am tired of having the holocaust rammed down my throat . . I am far more interested in what is happening now . . and how we address those wrongs . . . human beings have a history of inhumanity to their fellow human beings . . . it is time we learned the lessons of history and stopped perpetuating man's inhumanity to man

[iSeeDumbPeople]

I care about as much about the H olocaust as I do about the Civil War -- and the people that spend their time re-enacting it. If the people alive during that time wanted to sicken their world in that way, that's their problem. I wasn't alive and those are not my values. Some things need to be buried. Stop trying to shove it down our throats.

[kareemachan]

Well, here's one reason:

George Santayana:

Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

[iSeeDumbPeople]

A statement I don't disagree with. However, since most people don't learn anything at all from history -- opting instead to be spoonfed some other persons ideological opinion of such and as such offering their own mind up as a sacrifical lamb to the slaughter -- as I said, bury it and be done with it.

[JohnFromCensornati]

Now, can the pope perform magic tricks or is it just saints that can do that?
He needs to saw a woman in two or pull a rabbit out of a hat to distract us from the swindle.

[Zoe1]

All I can say is that this pope loves to dress up and ride in the popemobile. Benedict and those two cardinals in the picture above don't look to me like Happy Campers.

[pompous]

Wow!!! The church hierarchy must have a slow death wish. The church is quickly fading away amidst the scandals. The only good thing is the pontiff is 82. I suggest the members of the church hierarchy amidst the lies and scandals seek confession and do penance. They might want to begin by apologizing for their lies.

[Spiritof1982]

Way to take ownership and adequately explain yourself, Herr Ratzinger.

[PSM42]

Great. Everyone gets a second chance. Except Ch. en. ey.

[DwightinMesa]

NO WONDER this Pope has such horrible opinions of everyone and everything.

Who were the Cardinals that elected him, and why are they still there?

Hitler youth were taught by the Nazi party to hate everyone..­.except the "Master Race" (ie: full blooded
Germans). God forbid that any jews or gays might be around to haunt his perverted
way of thinking..­.then or now.

Hmmm. Can a Pope resign, or get fired? This one needs to go on down the road
before he completely trashes his church.

God help us all.

[BrettnCalgary]

Read the article, this is hardly cutting edge news, which is why the mor0n making the denial statement had to recant rather quickly. Lots of anti-nazi people served branches of the Hitler regime. It is true that teenage boys too young for the army were mobilized to man flak towers and antiaircraft batteries so such service is hardly a reason to label someone a nazi. It is also true that a great many of the brainwashed later saw the error of their ways.

That being said, he is a loathsome throwback to the middle ages, but, almost certainly not a nazi.

[Realityism]

Why even deny it? For young men of a certain age during that time period, wasn't membership more or less compulsory? It seems like it would be much more productive to speak openly about it.

[LJB1977]

Anyway, if the Pope does it, it isn't wrong or illegal.

[kappa08]

another reason to turn your back on the Catholic church...t­he hits just keep on coming.

[PSM42]

"If you call yourself a Christian, can you love a Hitler. Can you love a Joseph Alois Ratzinger?" If not, what do you call yourself?

[kappa08]

aware...