Leading Canidates for Pope. (4 Viewers)
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AFAIK, an US newspaper discovered that he was a member of the Hitler Youth in WWII:
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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.
Although there is no suggestion that he was involved in any atrocities, his service may be contrasted by opponents with the attitude of John Paul II, who took part in anti-Nazi theatre performances in his native Poland and in 1986 became the first pope to visit Rome’s synagogue.
“John Paul was hugely appreciated for what he did for and with the Jewish people,” said Lord Janner, head of the Holocaust Education Trust, who is due to attend ceremonies today to mark the 60th anniversary of the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
“If they were to appoint someone who was on the other side in the war, he would start at a disadvantage, although it wouldn’t mean in the long run he wouldn’t be equally understanding of the concerns of the Jewish world.”
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.
In 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.
He quickly won a dispensation on account of his training at a seminary. “Ratzinger was only briefly a member of the Hitler Youth and not an enthusiastic one,” concluded John Allen, his biographer.
Two years later Ratzinger was enrolled in an anti-aircraft unit that protected a BMW factory making aircraft engines. The workforce included slaves from Dachau concentration camp.
Ratzinger has insisted he never took part in combat or fired a shot — adding that his gun was not even loaded — because of a badly infected finger. He was sent to Hungary, where he set up tank traps and saw Jews being herded to death camps. He deserted in April 1944 and spent a few weeks in a prisoner of war camp.
He has since said that although he was opposed to the Nazi regime, any open resistance would have been futile — comments echoed this weekend by his elder brother Georg, a retired priest ordained along with the cardinal in 1951.
“Resistance was truly impossible,” Georg Ratzinger said. “Before we were conscripted, one of our teachers said we should fight and become heroic Nazis and another told us not to worry as only one soldier in a thousand was killed. But neither of us ever used a rifle against the enemy.”
Some locals in Traunstein, like Elizabeth Lohner, 84, whose brother-in-law was sent to Dachau as a conscientious objector, dismiss such suggestions. “It was possible to resist, and those people set an example for others,” she said. “The Ratzingers were young and had made a different choice.”
"Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me - a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord,'' he said after being introduced by Chilean Cardinal Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez.
"The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers,'' the new pope said. ``I entrust myself to your prayers.''
The crowd responded by chanting "Benedict! Benedict!''
"The fact that the Lord can work and act even with insufficient means consoles me, and above all I entrust myself to your prayers,'' the new pope said. ``I entrust myself to your prayers.''
The crowd responded by chanting "Benedict! Benedict!''
OK, here is some shit. A couple years ago I saw a documentary on the Papacy and it talked of a long-standing doomsday prediction from centuries ago that predicted John Paul II, seeing a very long-serving Pope leading into the 21st Century. The prediction went that he would be succeeded by a Pope who would only serve for a very short time, and the next Pope would be the final Pope.
Our new Pope is 78 years old, so I can see him serving a very short time.
Interesting, in a scare the shit out of you kind of way.
Our new Pope is 78 years old, so I can see him serving a very short time.
Interesting, in a scare the shit out of you kind of way.
Well In fact, in the Bible, the profet Malaquias says that after John Paul, two Popes will come, the second one will be name "John" and he will be the last Pope...
And theres also the poefessy of Nostradamus that says that the last Pope will be "Peter"...
So if the next Pope call himself "John Peter" we are screw
And theres also the poefessy of Nostradamus that says that the last Pope will be "Peter"...
So if the next Pope call himself "John Peter" we are screw
++ [ originally posted by Espectro ] ++
Well In fact, in the Bible, the profet Malaquias says that after John Paul, two Popes will come, the second one will be name "John" and he will be the last Pope...
And theres also the poefessy of Nostradamus that says that the last Pope will be "Peter"...
So if the next Pope call himself "John Peter" we are screw
Well In fact, in the Bible, the profet Malaquias says that after John Paul, two Popes will come, the second one will be name "John" and he will be the last Pope...
And theres also the poefessy of Nostradamus that says that the last Pope will be "Peter"...
So if the next Pope call himself "John Peter" we are screw
i always believed things nostradamus predicted .
its realy scary only to talk about