Well, there goes the Catholic Church. . .

[xiphias]

So, we went from a Pope who, in WWII helped a Jewish refugee, to a Pope who, in WWII, was a Hitler youth.

Any bets how long until the majority of American Catholics form a schismatic church and just get away from Rome?

My money's on fifteen minutes.

Comments

[mattblum.livejournal.com]

The fact that Ratzinger was a Hitler Youth isn't that disturbing, I think, because all German boys were required to be, and it isn't his fault that he was a boy in Germany at that time. Many people who were Hitler Youths went on to be vocal opponents of the Nazis. The fact that Ratzinger also served in the German army during the war is more disturbing, though he was evidently in an anti-aircraft unit and therefore almost certainly not involved in any atrocities.

Ratzinger's status as an ultra-conservative Catholic is much more disturbing to most people, I think. I mean, seriously--Catholics are generally much more concerned with how the Church deals with Catholics than how it deals with Jews, and that's hardly surprising. I think Ratzinger is going to have a lot of work to do if he expects to receive the same kind of respect from the Jews that his predecessor did, but that would be true even if he weren't German and an ex-Hitler Youth.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

Ratzinger's opposition to liberation theology disturbs me quite a lot. That was in the 1980s. He was old enough to know better, and had lots of power. There were a lot of priests in Latin America trying to advocate for the poor, and work against oppressive regimes to protect members of their congregations, and Ratzinger argued that it was none of their business...that the Catholic Church should not have anything to do with political stuff like that.

Seen in combination with Ratzinger's recent advocacy of denying communion to US politicians of whom he disapproves (such as John Kerry), it is not just a matter of conservative *theology*. This is someone with huge secular power, eager to silence those who disagree with him. That's scary.