There was a pause, definitely pregnant…
Such prose…
The Pope tried hard to sympathize with The Great Man. His own
predecessor on the papal throne had after all begun his own career
serving a cross significantly crookeder than the one he now served
Ah yes, the old British Benedict-was-a-Nazi slander.
Originally invented by the Sun, mindlessly repeated ever since.
[quote=“zathras, post:3, topic:81074, full:true”]Ah yes, the old British Benedict-was-a-Nazi slander.
[/quote]
Served the Nazis (which is all that line in the story implied). Briefly, as a teenager, in a situation in which he had little choice in the matter. I’m willing to give him a pass on that. It wasn’t what you’d call saintly, but it was defensibly human.
The ensuing decades of campaigning for misogynistic and homophobic bigotry, and his efforts in aiding and abetting mass child rape, however…if hell existed, he’d burn for that. So it’s lucky for him that it doesn’t.
Agreed.
But then, I like making really sure that I attack my political enemies for things they really deserve. Also, the crimes you mentioned are likely not crimes that the present pope really considers crimes either. While he may seem more friendly in some ways, he mostly shares his predecessors positions. At least seen from where I’m standing.
The story implies that young Joseph Ratzinger’s “serving the nazis” was a crime somehow comparable to “The Great Man”'s crimes. While that the soldiers fighting The Great Man’s war are depicted as The Great Man’s victims.
The whole thing sort of annoys me because I can only wish that my own ancestors all had a comparably clean record. I don’t know of anyone in that generation who managed to get through that time with a significantly cleaner record. This is purely British tabloids working hard to keep old enmities alive. All Germans are Nazis, of the worst sort.
Ratzinger “served” the Nazis in three capacities:
- by happening to be German
- by being a member of the Hitler Youth
- by being drafted as a Luftwaffenhelfer (“air force helper”)
As for number 2, membership was officially made compulsory a few years before he joined. He only joined when his school was forced to sign up all its students. He still skipped a lot of “mandatory” meetings.
And as for number 3, drafted as a child soldier used in a defensive position. Does the fact that the war was unjust to begin with make it evil to defend your country against air raids? Was he supposed to desert? Sorry, strike that. Was he supposed to desert earlier than he did?
By comparison, the soldiers in the story that visit The Great Man volunteered to serve in Britain’s army. And then they followed orders to attack a faraway country. Compared to that, young Joseph Ratzinger did exhibit saintly behavior.
Maybe I should instead just remind everyone that I’m Austrian, not German, point to Beethoven’s grave in Vienna, and hope that everyone will think that Hitler was German. That way it doesn’t concern me.
Just wanted to say that I loved this story, that’s all.
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