Kevin's Watch

Well, a new Pope. Apparently, he's very much in the conservative line of John Paul II, being his right-hand man and all.

New? He's 78 years old! Ahh, well; long live the Pope!

So now we have to remember to stop calling him Ratzinger... You know, "Pope Benedict the Sixteenth" is an awful mouthful.

New? He's 78 years old! Ahh, well; long live the Pope!

"After a fat pope, a lean pope..." Wonder if it will hold true.

Nice to see the suspense finally end. Now to see what sort of leader he is...

I must admit, despite not being a Catholic, I found the event rather exciting, and I got caught up in the fanfare.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:"After a fat pope, a lean pope..." Wonder if it will hold true.

It might. He might be the transition into a liberal future Pope. Then again, this Pope could very well have a long reign, with the modern healthcare we have today.

And, personally, I'm just gonna call him Benedict or Pope Benedict. About the same amount of mouthful as John Paul, that way.

Alynna Lis Eachann wrote:Nice to see the suspense finally end. Now to see what sort of leader he is...

Well, according to the BBC news, he's opposed to a great many things, including homosexuality, gay marriage, women in the church, divorce...

It does appear that he will try to bring the Catholic Church back to more traditional values.

I personally will call him Pope Benny ex-vee-eye.

I watched a CNN report on this guy yesterday - I didn't think he had a snowball's chance of becoming Pope. His hard line stance on many issues, I thought, would prevent him from being elected. Guess this shows what I know.

after the sex scandals we didn't need a Pope coming in and getting bogged down. he needs to focus on getting the Church back to it's roots, to continue the programs of John Paul II. I'm praying that he continues on the American arm of the Church to continue houscleaning and getting back in accordance with the Church. no more hemming and hawing on the sex abuse, turn the priests in who are guilty, cooperate with authorities, make an (many) act of contrition.

I figured it was going to be someone conservative. I believe all or most of those that John Paul II raised to cardinals were conservatives, so it stood to reason that they would vote that way. Had a hunch it might be him because he was so close to John Paul II.

Well, according to the BBC news, he's opposed to a great many things, including homosexuality, gay marriage, women in the church, divorce...

Pretty much all the stuff the last pope was opposed to... I didn't agree with that one on these matters and I won't agree with this one. Still, I'm curious to see if he will be able to inspire anywhere near the love and enthusiasm that John Paul II did despite his own hard-line stances. Somehow, I doubt it. If he is able to bring the American Catholic Church through its sex abuse problems in a proper fashion, though, I think maybe that will be enough.

I heard one of the talking heads say that usually after a particularly extraordinary papacy (like the recent one), the Cardinals often elect an "interim" Pope: someone who won't shake things up too much--or last very long. The Pope after this one will likely be a more radical choice.

Unless you believe the Malachian Prophecy, and think we're two Popes away from the Apocalypse.

..The Card's could not have steered into controversy any faster. yes, i know ratzinger became Pope because he had the Power behind him..but there is an arrogance in electing a Pope who never denied that he belonged to the " Hitler Youth". I think God would have found a better choice.

Sorry folks, if the Roman catholic cardinal conclave wanted to dis-enfranchise the latin american and 3rd world catholics even more, or just give the Pope image an instant black eye, by disregarding how they and their choice are perceived around the world, then they couldn't have picked a better choice.

Say what you will, bend twist spin it anyway that makes it comfortable for you, but coming out of the gates, i think they made a mistake in choosing this guy....MEL

Myste wrote:Unless you believe the Malachian Prophecy, and think we're two Popes away from the Apocalypse.

And the Mayans predicted the world would end in 2012... perhaps they'll coincide

dennisrwood wrote:after the sex scandals we didn't need a Pope coming in and getting bogged down. he needs to focus on getting the Church back to it's roots, to continue the programs of John Paul II. I'm praying that he continues on the American arm of the Church to continue houscleaning and getting back in accordance with the Church. no more hemming and hawing on the sex abuse, turn the priests in who are guilty, cooperate with authorities, make an (many) act of contrition.

Unfortunatly he is the one who blamed the "church scandal" (quotes not directed at you) or as I name it "the anally raping of children by preists often in the church itself and even the confessional" and then the pimping of said predator priests to different parishes for protection by Cardinal Law on an "anti-catholic media in America".

So don't expect any housecleaning anytime soon.

A Hitler youth is selected Pope.

I wish I was making this up.

Irony, you are amazing.

"Perfidious Jews."

Look for it.

Better than Strom Thurmond running on the segregationist ticket and maintaining his senatorial seat for decades...

Yes, Kins!

Or Senator Robert Byrd, (D) W.V.

My favorite Klansman.

lurch & Dromond :
just thought that you might like the watch members to know the truth behind your posts?

Was Cardinal Ratzinger a Nazi?

Good grief. No, Virginia, Cardinal Ratzinger was not a Nazi.

The Ratzinger Fan Club normally doesn't indulge in the muck and mire of such rumors, but you'd be suprised how many people write inquiring about this malicious rumor.


The story that Ratzinger was a member of the Hitler Youth is true. It's a biographical fact that seems to have circulated on many a mailing list, and seems to surface at precisely opportune times when the Prefect finds himself in the media's spotlight. From the way it has been presented, one might assume this is one of those skeletons the Cardinal keeps tucked away in his closet (next to his executioner's axe and the token heads of Hans Kung, Matthew Fox, Leonardo Boff & Charles Curran).

The truth is that as Ratzinger mentions himself in Milestones: Memoirs: 1927 - 1977, he and his brother George were both enrolled in the Hitler Youth (at a time when membership was compulsory), and discusses family life under the Third Reich in chapters 2-4 of his autobiography.

Likewise, John Allen Jr., journalist for the National Catholic Reporter and author of 2002's biography of the Cardinal The Vatican's Enforcer of the Faith, -- supplies the historical details sorely lacking in one of his many articles on the Cardinal:


As a seminarian, he was briefly enrolled in the Hitler Youth in the early 1940s, though he was never a member of the Nazi party. In 1943 he was conscripted into an antiaircraft unit guarding a BMW plant outside Munich. Later Ratzinger was sent to Austria's border with Hungary to erect tank traps. After being shipped back to Bavaria, he deserted. When the war ended, he was an American prisoner of war.
Under Hitler, Ratzinger says he watched the Nazis twist and distort the truth. Their lies about Jews, about genetics, were more than academic exercises. People died by the millions because of them. The church's service to society, Ratzinger concluded, is to stand for absolute truths that function as boundary markers: Move about within these limits, but outside them lies disaster.

Later reflection on the Nazi experience also left Ratzinger with a conviction that theology must either bind itself to the church, with its creed and teaching authority, or it becomes the plaything of outside forces -- the state in a totalitarian system or secular culture in Western liberal democracies. In a widely noted 1986 lecture in Toronto, Ratzinger put it this way: "A church without theology impoverishes and blinds, while a churchless theology melts away into caprice." *

www.ratzingerfanclub.com/Ratzinger_faq.html#nazi

there are countless articles on the internet with this info. I'm sure you must have overlooked it somehow?

I didn't say he was a Nazi.

I said I found it ironic that he was a member of Hitler youth and now is Pope.

The two biggest Jew hating organisations in history have his name on their rolls.

Infer what you wish, or not. Facts are facts.

Now, in light of this knowledge, defend if you can the Catholic Church term (and its roll in history) "Perfidious Jews"

You seemed to forget this in my previous post.

I get the feeling this topic is heading for the Close.

Now I'm no fan of any church, but equally, I don't particularly dislike one brand of christianity nore than any of the others.

Protestant churches have been equally guilty of atrocities, (yes, even toward jews) in the past. The catholic church has a terrible record, if you go back, but then, so does Europe, America, and most secular states you'd care to name, at some point in their development.

I'm interested to see what Dennis has to say here, but I wasn't aware that the church is currently any more opposed to Judaism than it is to anything else which doesn't match their doctrine/whatever.

--Avatar

...Did I say That Ratzinger was a Nazi? NO! But you went exactly where alot of folks automatically will go with it. Proof of my point. Whether or not he was a Nazi in his young youth isn't the point. For whatever reasons , bullyied by his parents, who knows, he and the church cannot deny that he once belonged to the Hitler Youth. I never belonged to it. He did. No matter what arguement one uses,,the fact cannot be denied. Thats the way it is.

Again, the church seems to be sinking into irrelevency on its own accord. As pointed out by others, Ratzinger was chief engineer in Hiding the pedophiles. yes, he will continue the hard line hold on church doctrine. Unfortunately for me,,that means, when the illegal immigrants come across the Arizona border,,the first thing they'll be doin is coming door to door trying to sell me the Watchtower or the Book of Mormon....MEL