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Father Federico Lombardi said the woman appeared to be "unstable." She was taken away by Vatican security. The pope was helped back to his feet and, apparently unharmed, continued the service, Father Lombardi said.
Was she trying to get a hug? Did she hand him a record or a letter or anything?
yes, why didn't she just throw a plastic pint pot at his head?
Jukebox Jury
They just said on CNN that she tried to touch him.
Huh. Maybe she is mentally unstable.
But is he a nazi? Didn't know that yet!
Not that I care all that much anyhow...
Accounts vary.
http://atheism.about.com/od/benedictxvi/i/RatzingerNazi.htm
The question of Joseph Ratzinger’s involvement with Nazi Germany and the Hitler Youth is important: there is reason to think that Ratzinger has been less than fully candid about his past.
Ratzinger’s father was critical of the Nazi government, and as a result the family had to move four times before he was ten years old. None of this is remarkable, however, because the same happened with other German Catholic families.
Joseph Ratzinger joined the Hitler Youth in 1941 when (he and his supporters inaccurately claim) it became compulsory for all German boys. They state that Ratzinger did not attend any of the meetings.
While Ratzinger was not a Nazi, there is more than enough reason to question his handling of his past. It appears that he hasn’t been honest with others — and probably not honest with himself — about what he did and what he could have done.
It’s 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. It’s certainly understandable that he wouldn’t have had the courage to do more and, were he any average person, that would be the end of the story.
You don’t have to be morally perfect to hold such a position, but it’s 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 don’t 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 hasn’t 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.
Resistance to the Nazis was dangerous and difficult, but not impossible. Elizabeth Lohner, a Traunstein resident whose brother-in-law was sent to Dachau as a conscientious objector, has been quoted as saying, “It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others. The Ratzingers were young and had made a different choice.”
It’s curious that one of the lessons which Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, draws from the experiences of German Catholics under the Nazis is that Catholics should become even more obedient to their ecclesiastical leaders rather than more free to adopt independent courses of action.
Joseph Ratzinger’s 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?
En passant, to be a member of the catholic church you have to be some type of "nazi" anyway...at least you have to be into oppression and despotism and all that. I hope it's possible to understand what I mean.
Was she trying to get a hug? Did she hand him a record or a letter or anything?
This thread would be more interesting if the Pope had punched the lady.
This thread would be more interesting if the Pope had punched the lady.