Pope

[woodface]

We have a new pope and no one is surprised. Frakking Ratzinger ex-Hitler Jugend. He shall be known as Benedictus XVI and will possibly be worse than Johannes Paulus II. So much for hoping we'd get a pope that might actually move the church into the 21th century.

Comments

[ellory1.livejournal.com]

I thought they liked his age... 78. Figure he will be a transitional Pope.

[woodface]

The last time they did that it blew up in their faces and we got the most open minded pope ever who tried to change the church for the best.

[charis]

So much for hoping we'd get a pope that might actually move the church into the 21th century.

BC?

I shouldn't be so snarky about this, since I know very little about the guy or about the Catholic church, but my brain stopped at the Hitler Youth element.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Errrr... The last time they did that was JP1, wasn't it? Or was it a big surprise that he kicked it after a month? :: was a wee thing and is having trouble recalling the details ::

I'm just glad it isn't the guy who made the lameass "Don't read The Da Vinci Code" statement last month. It'd be very embarrassing for my uncle to have to puke in the middle of the meeting he's at in Rome atm. (He said in an email the other day he'd have to remember the guy's name so he could "just puke then and there." This would be the priest uncle with the D.Div. who teaches at a Catholic university in Detroit. *g* I love my family...)

[liminalliz.livejournal.com]

Yay! We get a pope who hates gays! omg!

[seadancer.livejournal.com]

Uh I'm Catholic. I really find this post offensive. Comparing a German Pope to Hitler?

I admit there are things wrong with the Church and no I'm not going to discuss it any further.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

Er, I don't think there was any comparing of the new pope to Hitler - "Hitler Jugend" is the Hitler Youth, an organisation in which Pope Ratzinger was enrolled as a boy.

[lavidaessueno.livejournal.com]

I think you misread the post. It is a fact that Joseph Ratzinger was a member of Hitler Youth when he was young. It does not mean he was a supporter of Hitler or his policies - it was compulsory at that time in Nazi Germany. He was only a member for a short time before he was excused due to his seminary training.

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

...I should say, Pope Benedict XVI - I wasn't aware which name he'd taken when I wrote the above :-)

[woodface]

My mom says I'm Catholic too *eyes her*

I'm not comparing the pope to Hitler, the responses above are right. Sorry if you find that offensive.

[woodface]

Nothing new there, really.

[seadancer.livejournal.com]

If that's the case then I apologise.

[chiroho.livejournal.com]

Given that JP2 appointed almost all of the 115 voting Cardinals, it's hardly a surprise that someone who followed the same conservative theology was elected.

Also, the fact that he's older likely means that he will serve a much shorter Papacy than JP2.

[woodface]

*snickers* Oh feel free to be snarky, I love snark. He did apparently say he was in the Hitler Youth under force, which is quite possible as things weren't that simple during WWII.

[woodface]

Dude, did I miss one? I was actually referring to Johannes XXIII. Ratzinger is pretty conservative.

[woodface]

Did I mention that I'm not surprised at all? Just disappointed.

And you wish. *eyes him* He doesn't look like he's about to keel over. We can hope but I'm sure I'm officially banned right now.

[woodface]

No worries.

[chiroho.livejournal.com]

Well I don't see him keeling over just yet - my dad isn't that much younger, and I'm looking for him to live a while longer. I don't think he'll last anything like 25 years though. I think 10 might be a lot.

[woodface]

Ah, didn't know they excused him (did know it was compulsory). Hrm, there was a strange relationship with the church during WWII.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Ratzinger...I'm reserving comment for the moment, mostly because I'm not really Catholic anymore.

But yeah, there was a JP1 for about a month in 1978, before JP2. Hence my assumption that it wasn't the situation you were talking about where they ended up with a progressive one after the short-lived one. :-)

[woodface]

Whoops. *hides her history degree* Dude, I must stop mixing up my popes!

[woodface]

Bah.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

*chuckle* Unless your degree is specifically in 20th-century Church history, I wouldn't worry about it. I only remembered it because it was mentioned in some article or other I read in the last couple weeks. So I cheat. ;-) Plus I was actually around for it, and old enough to be paying attention to the news.

Granted, "old enough" means "eight," and my recollection of watching the news that year (during which I lived in England) is pretty much "Pope died. New Pope. Okay, so a Prime Minister is kinda like a President? But there's still a queen? Am confused. Hey, look Pope died AGAIN. Do they do that a lot? New Pope. OMGJonestownkoolaidpoisongunsnightmares!! Hey, look, the lady with the funny voice won Prime Minister."

[woodface]

Yeah, but one of my profs was kinda obsessed with the topic and did a whole lot around Vaticanum II. It's amazing how little time you need to forget the history that you know if you're not actively working with it. *pokes brain*

Hrm, that's actually a lot. As a kid, I really didn't pay that much attention to it.

[wiliqueen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, but one of my profs was kinda obsessed with the topic and did a whole lot around Vaticanum II.

Which was ten years earlier. (Year before I was born.) So he may or may not have touched all that much on the 1978 weirdness.