Pope Benedict XVI - "In This Place of Horror" (2006)

Born in Germany in 1927, Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI) grew up in a nation dominated by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi¹ Party. As a teenager, he was obliged to join the Hitler Youth, like all German boys. Toward the end of the war, he served in the German Army, operating an auxiliary² anti-aircraft unit, although it is said he never fired a shot and eventually deserted³. He was ordained⁴ in 1951, taught college-level theology courses and was a theological advisor⁶ to the Second Vatican Council which enacted⁷ sweeping⁸ reforms throughout the Church. In 1977, he was made a Cardinal⁹ by Pope Paul VI. He later moved to Rome and was elevated to the esteemed¹⁰ Order of Bishops¹¹ by Pope John Paul II and helped rewrite the Church's Catechism. In April 2005, upon the death of Pope John Paul II, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected as Pope. Like his predecessor¹² John Paul II, he soon traveled outside of Rome, first to his native Germany in August 2005, and then to Poland in May 2006. In Poland, he visited Oswiecim, which the Nazis¹³ had called Auschwitz, and thus became the second Pope to walk the grounds of Hitler's most notorious death camp.,