Pope At Odds With 'Politically Correct'

Skirmishes pitted Catholic leader against modern standards

WND

byAlbert Thompson

WASHINGTON – Pope Benedict XVI, 85, is resigning just as the biblical family is under assault, the willingness to kill the unborn is at an all-time high and President Obama has launched a number of efforts that limit the free exercise of religion.

Catholics around the world were stunned to hear the news that Benedict will resign his pontificate Feb. 28. The pontiff said he chose to resign because of his advanced age and worry about his ability to lead the 1-billion member church. 

Elected April 19, 2005, to succeed the highly regarded John Paul II, Benedict was the oldest man to be elected pope in nearly 300 years.

Benedict saw evil first-hand as a young boy.

Born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger April 16, 1927, in Bavaria, he lived through the Great Depression in Germany and the horror of the National Socialist regime. In 1939 he, like all German 14-year-olds, was conscripted into the Hitler Youth.

He refused to attend meetings. Later he was conscripted as a child soldier; his elder brother Georg had been conscripted earlier. He risked his life in 1945 when he deserted and returned home.

He was interned as a POW by American forces who used his family’s home as a headquarters. He was released in June 1945. After his elder brother was released in July, the family joined together and sang “Mighty God, We Praise You.”

After the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, he and Georg were free to attend seminary. They were ordained together in 1951. The future pope was consecrated archbishop of Munich and Freising in 1977.

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