[Usually Lurkin]

Originally posted by: Don_Didi
Interesting observations, doc, really interesting. You do forget to mention however, that Ratzinger also served in the German army during the war, in an anti-aircraft unit. Now it may just be me, but escaping from the hitler youth (and of course that was mandatory, I know that full well) which posed great risk to himself, and then coolly joining the army... that seems like a contradiction to me. Might I kindly ask that you remove your head from the man's backside?

escaping the Hitler youth, and coolly joining the army?
Don_Didi, I don't think you have your facts straight. I found this expert from the WSJ at the corner:

Traunstein was also where Cardinal Ratzinger went through the harrowing years of Nazi rule and World War II. In his memoirs, Cardinal Ratzinger wrote that he was enrolled in the Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He said he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood.
Two years later he was drafted into a Nazi antiaircraft unit as a helper, a common task for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. A year later he was released, only to be sent to the Austrian-Hungarian border to construct tank barriers.
He deserted the Germany army in May 1945 and returned to Traunstein -- a risky move, since deserters were shot on the spot if caught, or publicly hanged as examples to others. When he arrived home, U.S. soldiers took him prisoner and held him in a prisoner-of-war camp for several weeks. Upon his release, he re-entered the seminary.