Fr Joseph Ratzinger, a priest amidst the nazi lie

When Joseph Ratzinger was a child, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich visited his parish. Young Joseph was so impressed that he set out to become either an artist or a Cardinal when he grew up.

Those first impressions led to playing with the idea of becoming priest.

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
Popes brother
"We had a small house altar, which our uncle had made for us. We also had paraments, albs that is, and tunicals. The seamstress who sowed the dresses for my mother and my sister, sewed these paraments, practically tunicals for us. It was great fun. And we paid attention to how it is done in church, to be able to re-enact it as accurately as possible."

The age of fun and games was over and soon the time came for big decisions. In 1939, at the age of only 12, Joseph Ratzinger entered the Freising seminary.

There he lived through the most difficult years of World War II. One of the consequences of the war was the interruption of the school year.

In 1943, 16-year-old Joseph was called up to duty, like all his fellow classmates and friends, and assigned tasks in Munichs anti-aircraft defense.

One night, an SS official woke everyone up in the barracks where the soldiers were sleeping. Playing on their fear and fatigue, the official tried to convince them to enroll as volunteers in the SS. Joseph said no because he wanted to become a priest. The official humiliated and made fun of him.

Monsignor Thomas Frauenlob
Former dean, Minor Seminary, Traunstein, Germany
"He always said that his calling to become priest came very early. But it was in this confrontation with National Socialism, this huge lie which took hold, that he moved to becoming a priest."

When we returned to Freising after the war in January 1946, his seminary was in ruins. Thats why the first task for future priests was to rebuild it.

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
Popes brother
"Rebuild is saying too much. It was very seriously damaged, run-down and dirty. But there my brother and I helped rebuild it."

They studied hard in the seminary in Freising and later at the University of Munich until June 29, 1951, when Cardinal Faulhaber, the same man that so impressed Ratzinger as a child, ordained him a priest in the cathedral of Freising.

It was an unforgettable moment that Joseph Ratzinger remembers as the most important day of his life.

JMB

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[kpichett]

God bless Pope Benedict XVI

[jonvint]

@megamarsvin Matthew 16:13-20. Church founded by Christ. The Catholic Church has been the help of the poor throughout the world throughout the centuries by opening schools, orphanages, soup kitchens... Stay on one topic at a time or there can't be any dialogue.

[carlangas223]

Is in the bible the great bitch the one who sleeped with the kings

[carlangas223]

Do you want a prove look for the ODESA DOCUMENT

[carlangas223]

Hitler was just a poppet of the catholic church and the European monarchies or why do you think must of them declared theirselves neutrals.

[carlangas223]

Why do you think the Nazis were exterminating Comunist and Jews only. Open your eyes the Comunist killed the entire Russian monarchs they were a treat for the European monarchies. Also the Jews were a treat for the catholic church so catholic church and European monarchies were the mastermind of the holocaust.

[paolotagliano]

If you look at what Ratzinger actually voted for as cardinal, you will gain a much better understanding than this sugar-coated propaganda.

[Redbloodedsky]

@thegorn68 Oh I see... I'm full of shit, and you're full of love and righteousness, like any other Catholic I've known. I'll leave you alone with your assumptions then, have a nice day.

[thegorn68]

@Redbloodedsky So what you're telling me is, there are NO anti-Catholic bigots, trolls, etc. posting on YouTube, and other forums. What even brought you here to this video? Why do you even care? Doing some research? Yeah right. You're trolling videos and starting crap with other posters. Leave me alone you silly git!

[Redbloodedsky]

@thegorn68 I'm not blaming the fact that he was in Germany at that time, but that he took part in one of the most outrageous crimes in human history. And don't try to make him sound oh so innocent, unless you think all Nazis were forced to do what they did without understanding the consequences of such actions. I'm not hating on anyone here. Look at you:

"...all the anti-Catholic bigots, trolls, intellectually dishonest atheists who are filled with hate in their hearts". Hypocrite.

[thegorn68]

@Redbloodedsky Stupid ad hominem fallacious reasoning. Blaming the fact that he was born in Germany when everyone was forced to join the Nazi Youth on HIM instead of his circumstance. Brilliant! Lord knows, the history of humanity doesn't have any examples of people who rose above their circumstances and achieved a better siuation than the one they, through no fault of their own, started with. You're the one displaying anti-Catholic bigotry and you accuse me of "being filled with hatred"?

[Redbloodedsky]

@thegorn68 Let's shut down the sound of truth? This is really shocking! And even more so that Catholics accepted a person that was in the Nazi parade! Intellectually dishonest? I think the one filled with hatred here is you.