I've gotta say, German or not, I fully expected to see a hard-liner take that post. Most Catholics seem to agree that they want their confidence restored. Looking at JP2's record as opposed to his image, I find it hard to believe that anyone would've considered him too moderate, but that seems to be the consensus. They seem to want to see a firmer hand at the helm.
Just hope he has the wisdom not to get carried away with building Catholic pride- the world's becoming more and more polarized, and there's more than enough tension now between ethnic and religious groups. This is not a good time for a real old-school Pope, IMHO.
As for Benedict's Hitler Youth days, he did indeed have a choice, though he may not have thought so at the time (not an easy choice, but doing the right thing is rarely the easiest choice). His predecessor chose defiance(at considerable risk), and I'm not sure one could argue that being a Pole, his choice was easier.
But having made it this far in the church, I'd imagine he's made some sort of apology by now.
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