If the Pope is infallible....?

Question

Then I guess God approved of the Hitler Youth.... since Herr Ratzinger was a card carrying member...

Answer 1

dear putz: kids in germany were forced to join. and since when does a young kid know what the hell they're doing anyway? look at the MTV "Youth" lots of bright bulbs in that batch..oh yeah.

Answer 2

+ The Pope +

As a teenager and young man, Pope Benedict XVI was drafted into the Hitler Youth and the Nazi German Army just like every other non-Jewish German male. He was not given a choice.

The Pope is not and never has been a Nazi. He unfortunately was born and grew up in a country ruled by the Nazi party.

Every draftee into the Hitler Youth and the Nazi German Army was not a Nazi.

Thank God that you and I live in a very different world that the Pope did in 1930s and 1940s Germany. Or do we?

+ Papal Infallibility +

The Catholic Church teaches that the Pope is infallible at closely defined times.

The Pope is only infallible when he, in union with the body of bishops, solemnly teaches that a doctrine as true. This is called "ex cathedra", literally meaning in Latin "from the chair".

This comes from the words of Jesus to Peter (the first Pope) and the Apostles (the first bishops), "Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven" (Matthew 18:18) and "He who hears you hears me" (Luke 10:16).

At all other times the Pope can be just as wrong or sinful as you and me and be in need of forgiveness.

For more information, see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, section 891: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt1sect2chpt3art9p4.htm#891 and http://www.catholic.com/library/Papal_Infallibility.asp

+ With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Christ gave to Simon Peter and his successors, the Keys to the Kingdom and the power of binding and loosing. To the Popes was given the authority to teach. To them, in this regard, was given the charism of infallibility. "Infallibility" is not "impeccability" -- the inability to sin. Catholics do not believe that Popes are sinless and never err. Infallibility is simply a gift that is expressed in very specific ways, limited by Sacred Deposit of Faith -- Tradition, Scripture, and the unanimous writings of the early Fathers.

The Pope may explain doctrines more fully, he may go more deeply into them, he can extrapolate from moral principles to shed light on new situations that arise, but he cannot contradict what has been handed down by Christ and the Apostles and still claim infallibility for that teaching.

Seek some knowledge in HISTORY and also on Pope Benedict XVI ..............


Following his fourteenth birthday in 1941, Ratzinger was enrolled in the Hitler Youth — membership being legally required after December 1939 — but was an unenthusiastic member and refused to attend meetings. His father was a bitter enemy of Nazism, believing it conflicted with the Catholic faith. In 1941, one of Ratzinger's cousins, a 14-year-old boy with Down syndrome, was killed by the Nazi regime in its campaign of eugenics. In 1943 while still in seminary, he was drafted at age 16 into the German anti-aircraft corps. Ratzinger then trained in the German infantry, but a subsequent illness precluded him from the usual rigours of military duty. As the Allied front drew closer to his post in 1945, he deserted back to his family's home in Traunstein after his unit had ceased to exist, just as American troops established their headquarters in the Ratzinger household. As a German soldier, he was put in a POW camp but was released a few months later at the end of the War in summer 1945. He reentered the seminary, along with his brother Georg, in November of that year.

Answer 4

A) His Holiness is infallible ONLY on matters of faith and morals.

B) Joseph Ratzinger was NOT pope during WWII.

C) Your logic is non-existent. Your IQ is probably less than your shoe size and your comment (query) is tasteless, deliberately nasty and so very like the types of things that the fearful say and do to try and convince folks that they're not both scared spitless and dumber than stumps.

Tsk,tsk,tsk.

Well, take heart. Eventually medical science will be able to do something for your condition...perhaps a whole brain transplant?

Answer 5

The Pope is not infallible. He's a sinner just like you and me and nothing he says is infallible either.

One "expert" who already answered this question claims that Papal Infallibility was recinded during the reformation.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

According to the Roman Catholic Church Papal Infallibility started in 1870.

The Bible and Jesus teach that the only infallible teaching is God's Word, the Bible.

Pastor Art

Answer 6

Yes, he is infallible in deciding doctrine not with his own personal choices. He can still sin like anybody else. Did you know that Bing was a devout Catholic? He went to school at Gonzaga U in Spokane, Wa. For being anti-Catholic you sure picked a funny avatar

Thank you Father K for the support

Answer 7

Nice attempt to defame the Church, but you need a dose of historical fact -- Hitler Youth membership was mandatory for boys of a certain age group in Nazi Germany.

Boys who refused to join suffered very severe consequences, as did their families.

The fact that Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) was in the Hitler Youth doesn't make him any more of a Nazi than you or me.

.

Answer 8

Papal Infallibility was recinded in the Reformation. Ratzinger, though a jerk, was forced into the Hitler Youth as were all boy children in Germany at the time. It was not by choice he joined. He was old enough to do it when it was still voluntary, but he chose not to. As funny as it is to call the Pope a Nazi, if you want to be honest, it's not true.

Answer 9

army dude your answer is hysterical. I guess that is why the church prey's on children!!! Good one!!!

The Pope is just a guy who wears $500 dollar Prada shoes, uses 24k gold utensils to eat, eats off of the finest China in the world, and lives in a Palace that rivals any known palace in existence. Of course these are not his possessions, they are the church's possessions. He is sort of like the billionaire ceo of abc company that only takes $1 dollar in salary!!

Answer 10

The Pope is a human being.
He is mortal.
He is flawed.
He is NOT perfect nor without sin.
Only Jesus Christ & God Almighty are immortal & perfect.

The mistake people and the media make is that they forget that the Pope is human, mortal, flawed, imperfect.