The national news media seems to be aware of the irony of replacing a Polish Pope who sought to restablish ties with the Jewish world with a Germal Cardinal-cum-Pope with Nazi training but no one will make the joke outright. His Nazi ties are small, conspiracy theorists, so don't fret... about that anyway.
In his memoirs, he wrote of being enrolled in Hitler's Nazi youth movement against his will when he was 14 in 1941, when membership was compulsory. He says he was soon let out because of his studies for the priesthood.
Two years later, he was drafted into a Nazi anti-aircraft unit as a helper, a common fate for teenage boys too young to be soldiers. Enrolled as a soldier at 18, in the last months of the war, he barely finished basic training.
- From the Guardian
I would like to point out, however, that membership was compulsory and if you were a young man in Germany at that time, chances are you bought the line and joined up willingly. If he figured out later that killing... oh.... everyone else was a bad and morally wrong thing to do, admit it. But don't say you didn't inhale, bro.
He is, however, a Catholic who is a doctrinal hard-liner (unlike the Benedict before him who sought a reunion with his Christian bretheren. Probably why he took the name, to soften his image.) He was the scripting intellect behind much of John Paul II's moves so he will likely continue in that direction but likely it will be a much more dictitatorial and traditionalist bent. Ratzinger is famous for resisting liberal reforms and punishing dissidents as the head of Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. (That's the new name for the Holy Inquisition for all of you who aren't up on your Roman Catholic officies and officials.) "Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as a fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards." - from his Monday speech.
So expect a pontificate that is more reserved and not seeking the same harmony with the world that John Paul did. The likelihood that he will seek real congress with the Muslim world is slim. He will definetly continue the stricter doctrines of John Paul's reign and will halt the progressive reforms that made JPII famous.
At least they didn't elect Jorge Arturo Medina Estivez or any of the other crazy South American cardinals because they are all psychotically evil. Don't get me wrong, I want a minority pope like I want a Grammy... but their histories make Ratzingers brush with Nazism look like a waltz with Claire Danes.
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