MarcosZeitola wrote:
While I dislike Benedict pretty much in how he handled the child sexual abuse scandal and think he's a weak-minded man and a bad pope, the Nazi thing is kind of an unfair point from your father. All boys his age were drafted forcibly into the Hitler Youth and he and his brother were forced to join it. Their father was strongly opposed to the Nazi regime, and got in trouble for his stance.
As for Francis, I like Francis, as far as popes go. I disagree with him on plenty of issues but I see in him a humility and a kindness...
The little girl, of course, stole the show. It's actually a miracle she got to address the Holy Father in the first place, if you read what authorities did to the street children.
I am not a Catholic anymore (left Catholic Church 45 years ago) and despite 60+, I was born after the end of WWII.
Life under Hitler, this is history and all people, who have seen Hitler by their own eyes are now either dead or very old.
The Hitler Youth was similar to any boy scout organization. It was popular and to REFUSE to let children join would bring parents in serious troubles at that time. Of course it was politically misused, a propaganda machine. However not all was bad with the Hitler Youth - German children were very poor at that time and the Hitler Youth offered meals, some basic clothes and shoes, sports and other activities and some medical treatment, also dentist for free.
About Pope Benedict, he did the right thing to resign, he never insisted to become the Pope, he was chosen, and he was clearly the wrong choice.
Pope Francis, out of Latin America, knows all the life in slums etc, likes to talk and move around everywhere for hours and for 78 year old, he is remarkably strong, he seems to be free of arrogance, very communicative and is not willing to live 'wealthy' - quite different from his predecessor.
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About street children in Philippines, there are various groups of them - many of them belong to parents, who are also living in the street or in slums. Some others don't know their parents, many are in urban area, but there are also abandoned feral children in rural areas. Some street children are misused sexually or beaten up by criminals, but many others are not, some remain kind and lovely trying to survive somehow, others are wild and violent, operating criminal gangs and are attacking locals and foreigners aggressively as beggars, pickpockets, even ready to commit more severe crimes, armed robbery, burglary etc.
What shall police in Manila do with such wild children except to lock them up for a few days while millions of people are in the streets for the visit of the Pope?
My Filipina fosterdaughter (now 20 y/o) is a former feral rural child kicked out by her parents. She was severely mistreated and neglected, suffered of malnutrition and very ill, she was however never sexually abused and was never into drugs and prostitution.
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To blame the Roman Catholic Church in the Philippines and Brazil etc. for all and everything regarding streetchildren is wrong, countries which are almost without Christianity have also huge numbers of streetchildren, like Bangladesh, but who is blaming Islam for that? Buddhism is not blamed either for streetchildren in Cambodia...
If the Pope is not speaking for true Christianity, who else might it be? Who is speaking out for true Islam? or for true Buddhism?