Was the pope a member of the Nazi Party/Hitler Youth

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I do not know much about the pope.

But is it true that he was a member of the Nazi party or the Hitler youth or something.

If thats the case why would you pick a former member of the Nazi party as a pope…
 
I do not know much about the pope.

But is it true that he was a member of the Nazi party or the Hitler youth or something.

If thats the case why would you pick a former member of the Nazi party as a pope…
I read he had to do it or be killed. Anyway the whole Church remained pretty silent about Hitler’s treatment of Jews because it didn’t want Hitler to start persecuting Catholics in retaliation. So I doubt that it matters much that the pope also protected himself since that’s what the Church did for itself.
 
Hi Isa, welcome to CAF!
I got this part from this site:
crossroadsinitiative.com/library_author/114/Cardinal_Ratzinger.html

"Though he and the Ratzinger family saw Naziism as the spirit of Anti-Christ, Joseph was forced into the German army near the end of World War II. He escaped, surrendered to the US forces, and spent a few months in a POW camp. Upon his release, he and his brother Georg entered the seminary and were ordained priests together on June 29, 1951. "
 
I do not know much about the pope.

But is it true that he was a member of the Nazi party or the Hitler youth or something.

If thats the case why would you pick a former member of the Nazi party as a pope…
Just a technicality: not all Nazis were members of the Nazi Party.

Secondly, even if it was true, can people not change? Can they not reform? Can God not transform a person’s life?
 
Apparently God didn’t want the pope to be killed early on, He wanted him to stick around and be pope as part of His plan.
 
Hmm i thought it was a joke intially, and i really took exception to the pope being a former nazi.

But you guys make fair points and if he was forced into it then i suppose it wasent his fault…
 
:cool: Ralphinal,you mean not all Germans were members of the Nazi Party.Which is the same for the Russian people. Not all of them were members of the communist party.
It says he was forced into the military towards the end of WW2.
This was when they needed men and yes even recruited young men of the Hitler Youth as fighters.
While there were Nazis in the German Military,there were many soldiers and officers who didnot belong to the party.Before the famous plot to assinate Hitler that was carried out by Count von Stauffenberg ,there were earlier plots to get rid of Hitler,with some of the conspirators amongst the generals.
If the pope was a member of the Hitler Youth it was because he may have been coerced into it. Before Hitler came up with the death camps,he started the concentration camps were he put anyone the Nazis didn’t like.Gays, communisists,potilical opponets,etc. into.
You had neighbors spying on neighbors,etc.
Ordinary germans disappeared,sometimes they went to the camps and others were never found.
And as Ralphinal says,can’t people change through God’s Grace?
 
How do you guys know he was forced…

maybe he was a willing and active member of the Hitler youth and then just tried to lie and make out that he was coerced…

im sure mant nazi’s tried that once they had lost
 
How do you guys know he was forced…

maybe he was a willing and active member of the Hitler youth and then just tried to lie and make out that he was coerced…

im sure mant nazi’s tried that once they had lost
What do you suppose we do with the man, hook him up to a lie detector test and zap the **** out of him even it remotely looks like he is lying?

If the pope was so rooted in Nazism then why on earth would the man become a priest and be faithful to the church for over the last 55+ years! That sure is a long time to hide one’s “true” self!

This is nothing more that non-Catholics trying to discredit a great pope!
 
How do you guys know he was forced…

maybe he was a willing and active member of the Hitler youth and then just tried to lie and make out that he was coerced…

im sure mant nazi’s tried that once they had lost
Maybe he was an evil Nazi. Apostle Paul once liked to see Christians killed. 🤷
 
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Ratzinger#Early_life_.281927.E2.80.931951.29

He is noted as being an unwilling member, refusing to turn up to meetings, also, the Nazi party murdered his 14 year old cousin for having Down’s Syndrome.

Also, as I recall, all teenage boys were forcibly recruited into the Hitler youth, and there was a lot of conscription into the military.

Edit: Yes, he was legally required to join the Hitler youth from the age of 14 onwards, a law which was passed two years before his 14th Birthday. And he was drafted into the military, it wasn’t a free choice.
 
Membership in the Hitler Youth was mandatory from 1936 onwards so Joseph Ratzinger would have had to be registered (at least nominally) in the organization.

As for saying “The Pope” being a member of anything Nazi would be incorrect.

James
 
Hmm i thought it was a joke intially, and i really took exception to the pope being a former nazi.

But you guys make fair points and if he was forced into it then i suppose it wasent his fault…
Saint Matthew was an extorting tax collector by his own will. Did he change? Simon (Peter) was a sinful, coarse, profane fisherman by his own will. Did he change? Saul of Tarsus (Saint Paul) was an elite Pharisee who held the cloaks of those who stoned Saint Stephen the Martyr, by his own will. Did he change? Christ came to call not the righteous, but sinners. Test them by their actions after repentance.

Christ’s peace.
 
Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) had no need to repent of having been a nazi, because he never was a nazi.

He was signed up for the Hitler Youth in absentia when he turned 14, as all German boys were at that time, but it was against his will. He refused to attend meetings, though he was threatened with reprisals for doing so. Joseph’s father was strongly anti-nazi, as was the entire Ratzinger family.

A few years later, young Joseph was conscripted by force into the German army. He deserted (risking his life by so doing) and surrendered to U.S. forces. After his release from U.S. custody, he entered the priesthood.

Does that sound like anything requiring repentance?

Paul
 
IIRC he was a conscripted (i.e. drafted) soldier in an antiaircraft battery. I thought I heard that he had deserted his unit when he got the chance too. Seems plenty gutsy to me.

If he had been a willing Nazi member we’d know about it from the researchings of folks at Simon Wisenthal …
 
Don’t waste your time, the OP is a TROLL!

Vickie
But others read the thread too. When they see a nice solid refutation of trolling, it is a witness to the faith. Thus, the troll is doubly foiled! 😉
 
:cool: Ralphinal,you mean not all Germans were members of the Nazi Party.Which is the same for the Russian people. Not all of them were members of the communist party.
It says he was forced into the military towards the end of WW2.
This was when they needed men and yes even recruited young men of the Hitler Youth as fighters.
While there were Nazis in the German Military,there were many soldiers and officers who didnot belong to the party.Before the famous plot to assinate Hitler that was carried out by Count von Stauffenberg ,there were earlier plots to get rid of Hitler,with some of the conspirators amongst the generals.
If the pope was a member of the Hitler Youth it was because he may have been coerced into it. Before Hitler came up with the death camps,he started the concentration camps were he put anyone the Nazis didn’t like.Gays, communisists,potilical opponets,etc. into.
You had neighbors spying on neighbors,etc.
Ordinary germans disappeared,sometimes they went to the camps and others were never found.
And as Ralphinal says,can’t people change through God’s Grace?
I did mean that. I also meant that not everyone who wore a swastika was a member of the Nazi party. I cannot remeber at this time, but the “true” members of the party were not a majority. Even smaller if you only include the origional members and their families, especially after Hitler started killing them.

FoA made a good point: Paul killed Christians and turned around, too. Even the biggest critics of Benedict do not claim he was anywhere near any humanitarian violation.
 
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