Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth: Sunday Times

[emad]

April 17, 2005

Papal hopeful is a former Hitler Youth
Justin Sparks, Munich, John Follain and Christopher Morgan, Rome



THE wartime past of a leading German contender to succeed John Paul II may return to haunt him as cardinals begin voting in the Sistine Chapel tomorrow to choose a new leader for 1 billion Catholics.

Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, whose strong defence of Catholic orthodoxy has earned him a variety of sobriquets — including “the enforcer”, “the panzer cardinal” and “God’s rottweiler” — is expected to poll around 40 votes in the first ballot as conservatives rally behind him.

Although far short of the requisite two-thirds majority of the 115 votes, this would almost certainly give Ratzinger, 78 yesterday, an early lead in the voting. Liberals have yet to settle on a rival candidate who could come close to his tally.

Unknown to many members of the church, however, Ratzinger’s past includes brief membership of the Hitler Youth movement and wartime service with a German army anti- aircraft unit.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1572667,00.html

[ugarte]

1. I wonder if he still wears Nazi regalia under his cassock

That would be interesting.

[Henny Penny]

2. This is what is known as a smear campaign

and the Sunday broadsheets in the UK are sadly very practiced at it.

How many will bother to read past the headline??

snip>> "The son of a rural Bavarian police officer, Ratzinger was six when Hitler came to power in 1933. His father, also called Joseph, was an anti-Nazi whose attempts to rein in Hitler’s Brown Shirts forced the family to move home several times."

snip>> "He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941."

This guys views on contraception probably make him an unattractive candidate to people worried about over population.

[Kellanved]

20. well

I can not comment on using his past against him, but his inner-church policies are ample reason to hope (and pray ;-) ) for him not getting elected.

And no, it is not just his position on "contraception". But bear in mind that the church's position does not only cause overpopulation, but may have a part in the AIDS situation as well.

[rpannier]

3. To be honest

I don't think service in the German army should necessarily disqualify him...nor do I think his military service makes him a bad person.
As to the Hitler Youth thing, I'd have to know more about it. I'm sure there are still many elderly German men who were recruited into the movement that are still alive today and are good people. What people do when they are 8 or 9 years old should hardly have any bearing on what we think of them almost 70 years later. I'm more of a...What have you done for me lately kind of guy.
Personally, from what I have read about him, I think he's a punk. He shouldn't be pope.

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

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[ClassWarrior]

10. Thanks for that decidedly un-Progressive pile of knee-jerk hatred.

Did you even bother to read post #2? I think there are probably great reasons to oppose this guy as Pope, but this pile of smear doesn't seem to be one of them.

NGU.

[Cuban_Liberal]

17. Nice broad-brush attack

Stereotype much?

:eyes:

[emad]

5. Conservative emerges as favourite for papacy

Independent
By Peter Popham in Rome
17 April 2005


As the cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church go into their secret conclave in the Sistine Chapel tomorrow to elect the next Pope, there is only one name on everybody's lips: Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger.

Last week, Italian Vatican-watchers said they believed the German cardinal, who turned 79 yesterday, had already obtained the pledges of 40 to 50 cardinals for the secret voting. If the latter figure is right, he would need only another 27 to obtain the necessary two-thirds majority.

Many other cardinals are described as "papabile", literally "popeable", but no single name has yet to emerge as a plausible rival. Yet Cardinal Ratzinger, who was the late Pope's personal theologian and for many years headed the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith - the successor to the medieval Inquisition - is the single most polarising figure in the church today. As one Italian commentator put it, "he represents all the conservatism of John Paul II with none of his spontaneity".

The Cardinal, a Bavarian who as a child was a member of the Hitler Youth, enjoys several unflattering nicknames including "Panzer cardinal" and "enforcer of the faith".

http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?story=630151

At his age???? MORE like favorite for the next Vatican funeral.....

[Henny Penny]

6. emad. do you actually read the stories you post?

And have you read my reply above? Those quotes are taken from the article you posted a link to in the times.

I'll make it easy for you...

snip<< n 1937 Ratzinger’s father retired and the family moved to Traunstein, a staunchly Catholic town in Bavaria close to the Führer’s mountain retreat in Berchtesgaden. He joined the Hitler Youth aged 14, shortly after membership was made compulsory in 1941.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1572667,00.html

Yes he joined the Nazi youth when it was made COMPULSORY!!!!!!

[ugarte]

7. Compulsory or not, from Hitler Youth to Opus Dei

is not much of a trajectory.

[Henny Penny]

8. If there is

actual source material presented as backup to a post, why not read it before going off on one of these little trajectories?

[emad]

11. Have made no comment on either the story posted or your

own contribution to it.

Let me make it easy for YOU:

"TheoCons, milking compassion for the Bush Kleptocracy"

or if you like,

""Compassion, a cash-cow for morally bankrupt TheoCons".


Maybe just too subtle for you?

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cuban_Liberal]

19. Breaking news: trees have green leaves.

:eyes:

[AntiCoup2K4]

9. Aside from possible fascism, the even more obvious question is.....

Why in the FUCK would they even consider giving the job to a 78 year old man?? Isn't the point to have a pope stick around a while?

[Henny Penny]

12. I read somewhere

that the average term of office was 6 years so I guess 78 to 84 is do-able. He wouldn't be my choice on a number of grounds but he may get in depending on what splits occur between the conservatives and the modernisers, or he may get in as a place holder until some up and coming guy is more widely accepted.

[woo me with science]

13. and Byrd is former KKK

as an ADULT...not as a child pushed into indoctrination.

Your point is?

[tjdee]

15. Big difference.

For one thing, Byrd was elected by all the voting adults in his state.

The pope is only voted on by what amounts to a handful of cardinals--and is also supposed to be the major religious figure for millions of people.

No one's going to be making pilgrimages to see Senator Byrd.

I am unsure if his history in the Hitler Youth has anything to do with how he is now--but I would hope he has made some statements about how it wasn't the correct thing, etc.

[New Dealer]

14. This is stupid

He joined Hitler Youth when he was too young to think independently, and when it was mandatory. I don't think he did anything wrong.

[leyton]

16. Membership in Hitler Youth was mandatory.

Everyone read post #2, for goodness sakes.

Christianity is all about forgiveness anyways. Or is he poisoned for life because the society he grew up in was turned upside down by a maniac?