Patters

Well, he was a Nazi. The many Germans courageous enough to resist the Nazis were mostly killed, and I don't think it's too much to expect that from a young man so devout that he would rise through the ranks of his Church. But, again, given his past and his first-hand knowledge of the Nazis, how in the world can he readmit a Holocaust denier? I don't like him anyway, but this is really sort of disgusting given his heritage.

Turk

"Some pictures don't tell the story" ???
I don't think that's how the saying goes!

The church's position, attitude and actions during and about the Holocaust are a well documented disgrace and I did not provide one or two but an album of photos for you, not to mention the fact that all those nice folks that were responsible for all that death and destruction were of the Christian faith, from as far as Armenia who sent voluntary troops to help with Hitler's campaign of ethnic cleansing, using words like "Holy duty" and "modern day crusade".

Run DMC

Does anyone see the irony of a bunch of sodomites being led by a Nazi?

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IcyPatriot

As I grew older and went from single man to family man I had a harder time calling myself a Catholic and instead referred to myself as a Christian. I have been stuck in the middle for some time now. The acts of the church over the years do not support the life of Christ IMO and that bothers me.

To criticize Obama for sitting there listening to reverend Wright and yet be in total agreement with the Catholic church is wishy-washy at best. I liked Pope John Paul for the most part but this pope represents too much of the past ... why they elected him is anyone's guess. He has all the warmth of an iceberg.

Real World

No bashing going on in here. Nope, nah, none at all I say.

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"The most difficult subjects can be explained to the most slow-witted man if he has not formed any idea of them already; but the simplest thing cannot be made clear to the most intelligent man if he is firmly persuaded that he knows already, without a shadow of doubt, what is laid before him."
Leo Tolstoy, 1897

DarrylS

From what I have read about the Pope's actions, his fear of divisiveness in the church prompted this action... he should not have done this, just suck it up and deal with it.. churches have made so many concessions for the sake of having big numbers, most have lost their way. If they want to go that way let them go.. just seems like another panderer leading a church.

Whether he was Nazi or not, is not the issue, to bring these guys back is flat out stupid.

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Wildo7

"It's only bashing when it concerns my guy."

PatsFanInVa

Not really. I do see the irony that both the Nazis and the Vatican were enthusiastic persecutors of homosexuals, yet homosexual leaders in both the church and the Nazi party attested to the hypocrisy of such persecution by sexuality.

It does not seem that Pope Benedict has a tremendous amount of blood on his hands; I do not know if he has any, even as a soldier.

He was, of course, a Nazi. We do not know how important that early upbringing is in his current actions, nor can we impute a causal link. It necessitates knowledge of his internal state of mind we do not have.

Rather, we can say that his action speaks in one of two ways:

Either it declares that the Church does not place much emphasis on the importance of the historic memory of the Holocaust, or

It declares that holocaust denial was never the sin in the Church we might imagine it to be, saying that one is free to market such denial while one is in high office in the Church, with no real damage done; The declaration might be that holocaust denial was never the church's problem, and he was originally excommunicated for something else.

If you guys have some other explanation let me know. To me, this is more just a curiosity, albeit a shameful one, than anything. I do not trust religious hierarchies of any stripe.

PFnV

Wildo7

I've got another explanation: morality based on religious edicts isn't the same as real morality.

PatsFanInVa

Morality based on religious edict, more accurately, isn't the same as morality based on other edict or personal fiat. The presence of a great concentration of power virtually guarantees less than optimal outcomes, when combined with any morality, or, of course, the lack thereof. A great concentration of power in combination with a competing ideology, such as Stalinism, produces no better results; nor does an utter lack of ideology in combination with a great concentration of power. Indeed there are those who would assert that power itself is the ideology at a certain point, regardless of the ideological superstructure erected to justify said power.

Just sayin'.