[Pedantic RANT] Re: [HUMOR] End Times

[Randy Edwards]

 > He wasn't exactly a "Nazi-supporter" but rather a member of the Hitler
 > Youth because it was illegal *not* be a member of that organization if
 > you were a "youth".

   Do you have a reference for the law making membership in the Hitler Youth 
mandatory?  Myself, I don't put much validity in Wikipedia articles on 
serious topics; it's fine for referencing computer trivia and "light" topics, 
but there are many criticism about Wikipedia's political stance and the 
caliber of its mainstream articles.

   After a quick search, I found an article by Vicente Navarro, a professor of 
Public Policy at Johns Hopkins University, USA and Pompeu Fabra University, 
Spain.  In the article, Navarro states, "...but first, let's dispense with 
the claim that every young person in Germany at that time was in the 
Hitler Youth. That is nonsense."

   Now, give me the choice between a Wikipedia statement and an article 
publicly written by a professor and I'll take the latter every time.

   Navarro clearly states, "There is no evidence that Ratzinger was a Nazi or 
a Nazi sympathizer."  But this statement seems to be weakened by two later 
paragraphs, "One of the cardinals who most impressed him was Cardinal 
Faulhaber, then archbishop of Munich, who founded the boarding school where 
young Ratzinger studied (and later, in 1951, ordained him). Cardinal 
Faulhaber was an open Nazi sympathizer. According to Ratzinger's brother, 
Georg, Joseph joined the Hitler Youth to get a scholarship that would allow 
him to continue his studies at Faulhaber's boarding school."

   "During all his years in Germany, Ratzinger never in his writings publicly 
condemned the Holocaust, and, as late as 2000, he referred to the Catholic 
Church's collaboration with the Hitler regime as a sign of 'a certain 
insufficiency of Catholics in front of the Holocaust because of the 
anti-Semitism that existed in the souls of many of them' (emphasis added). A 
'certain insufficiency' is a dramatic understatement."

   FWIW, Navarro's article, while holding strong opinions about the political 
conservatism of the new pope, is definitely worth reading at 
<http://www.counterpunch.org/navarro05022005.html>.

 Regards,
 .
 Randy

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