Debateful

From everything that I have read, in books and recently, the pope is ex hitler youth. Pick up a book called Behold A Pale Horse by William Cooper.

Everything he says is pretty far fetched as far as the government goes. But he focuses on the catholic church for a little bit. Did you know that Pope John Paul the second, or whatever guy was before this new one, was a Polish Cyanide salesmen to the Nazis? When Nazi Germany fell, he fled to Milan or something and got in good with the Catholic Church. He became a priest in the fifties, and later the Pope. They kind of just let anyone become Pope, don't they?

Now this new guy, rumours about him being ex hitler youth, I wouldn't doubt it with all that has happened in the past.

What I'm trying to say is, is the Catholic Church really devoted to nothing but worship? You know some important people got these past two guys elected. Anyone seen the Godfather Part 3? The whole thing with the Vatican bank and Immobliarie really happened. Is the Catholic Church as innocent as they project themselves?

Yes, Pope Benedict was with the Hitler Youth, but that was a requirement for ALL German boys at the time, it wasn't optional towards the end of the war because the Nazis were drafting children to fight the Americans and the Russians, giving them Panzerfausts and telling them to man AA guns to shoot at tanks. So, he wasn't doing it because he wanted to, he was essentially drafted.

NO, Pope John Paul, the Second was NOT a cyanide salesman, in fact he was a messenger for a restaurant and a manual laborer in a limestone quarry, and then as a salesman for the Solvay chemical factory to earn his living and to avoid being deported to Germany after his university was closed by the Nazi invasion of Poland. After that, he joined the underground seminary to become a priest, as priests in Poland were hunted down for supporting Jews, working against the Nazis, etc.
Thirdly, whatever bad things the leadership has done, whether the Crusades or what have you, is done by the leadership, and does not reflect upon the whole Catholic Church, as God has given us free will. But, as there are few actual scandals in the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, incidents are few and far between, but they did indeed happen.

I'll respond in detail later, but I was targeting more specifically the Vatican, as opposed to the whole Catholic faith.

Sure sure makes sense to formulate a clear arguement in detail. Take your time.

The current Pope was in the Hitler Youth, but people forget what it was like for a 14 year old boy in those times. If he didn't join then his family would be persecuted, treated as traitors to the "cause" etc.

It's easy to judge now, but think about what it must of been like for him. He would have been forced to join

I think everyone who glamorizes the fact that the Pope was a 'Nazi', is missing the entire point completely. The point being that the Catholic church and fascist states have had very close relationships in the past. Checkout your modern Spanish and Italian history.

"The Pope was a Nazi?"
...."The Catholic Church WERE Fascists!!!"

As NullSpce said, people are missing the real point.

Alot of the Catholic church's "politics" are pretty close to facism.