Apparently the Vatican has been taking lessons from the old Bush Administration playbook. While on his trip to the Middle-East, the Pope's spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, vehemently denied that the Pope was in the Hitler Youth. The problem is Pope Benedict XVI haws freely admitted that he was drafted into the Hitler Youth in 1941.
"The Pope was never in the Hitler Youth, never, never, never,'' Father Federico Lombardi, told a press conference in Jerusalem.
I guess they believe if you keep saying it it eventually becomes true?
Personally , I find the fact that he was a member of the Hitler Youth and yet now has become pope an example of grace. He joined unwillingly at a time when all young people in Germany were effectively drafted into the organization. That he has put that behind him and gone on to become Pope is a testament to how much a person can change and to the strength of the human spirit.
Do I agree with the Pope very often, oh heck no! He is an ultra-conservative whose views on Christianity I do not share, but I certainly don't hold his past against him.
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I don't hold his past against him, nor do I against most everyone (except Bush, who needs to be prosecuted for war crimes). But the problem is that, in the present, the Church is lying and denying that he was ever part of Hitler Youth, when he himself says he was. Were all to say consistently, yes, he was, but unwillingly, and he has moved on (and grace, etc), that would be a different story. As you said, it shouldn't be a matter that if you say something often enough, people will come to believe the lie. It's just wrong.
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