New Pope don't rock

[Denis Regenbrecht]

Hi,

> Paul Mather wrote on 4/20/2005, 4:44 PM:
>
>> To be fair, it was hard not to be in the Hitler Youth, because
>> membership became compulsory for youths some time during WWII.  Also,
>> late in the war, every eligible male between the ages of 16 and 60 was
>> conscripted into the Volksturm (the German "Home Guard"), as a
>> last-ditch effort to stem the tide of defeat.
>>
>> Still, conscientious objectors did resist being drafted, and were
>> usually sent to concentration camps as a result.  I guess Mr.
>> Ratzinger
>> chose a path of least resistance...

He didn't chose "the path of least resistance". Sometimes during the
last months of the war, when he was serving as a "Flak-Helfer" he
deserted. He was just lucky to get caught by some disillusioned
Wehrmacht-soldiers (who just let him go!) instead of some SS guys, who
would, without a doubt, had him shot or hanged at once.
That of course doesn't suit the picture the British yellow press wants
to create in their typical psychotic "always mention the war"-tick.

On Apr 20, 2005, at 18:18 Uhr, Iain Ferguson wrote:

> I'd love for him to make me eat my words, but somehow I doubt the man
> has the sight to liberalise. Not from what he's said.

An acquaintance of mine went to the same priest seminar as Mr.
Ratzinger. He once told me that some of the writings by R. from before
his time as a member of the curia isn't exactly the ultra-conservative
stuff you would expect, but that there's a lot of liberalism in it. He
never told any details though...
Of course one also has to consider the position Ratzinger held for the
last twenty years. He was Prefect of the Congregation of Faith, more or
less the modern-day Grand Inquisitor. You _have_ (or seem...) to be
very conservative for that position, it's practically nr.1 in the job
description.
But regardless if someone else had become pope (Martini or some of the
Latin-American cardinals) I don't think that anyone would have
"legalised" the use of condoms or the pill, at least not at once. (IMO
the ban on contraceptives is one of the great idiocies of the Catholic
Church, together with priest-celibacy and the exclusion of women to act
as priests)

just my 0.02€

                                D+R
np: Philip Glass, "Akhnaten"