Pope Became a Priest to Combat Nazism

CBS NEWS, April 6 — Pope Benedict said becoming a priest gave him an opportunity to confront the “anti-human culture” of the Nazis in his native country, the website of the television network reported.

The Holy Father made the comments during a meeting April 6 with thousands of young people in St. Peter’s Square. He took questions from five students on issues such as the family, how to read the Bible and faith and reason. Asked by one student how he realized his own priestly vocation, the Pope said that when he was young in Germany it was more “normal” to accept faith and vocations than it is today.

“There was the Nazi regime,” he said. “We were told very loudly that in the new Germany ‘there will not be anymore priests, there will be no more consecrated life, we don’t need this anymore, find another profession.’”

The Holy Father added, “But actually hearing these loud voices, I understood that in confronting the brutality of this system, this inhuman face, that there is a need for priests, precisely as a contrast to this anti-human culture.”

Benedict Screens Film on His Predecessor

ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 31 — Pope Benedict said the movie he watched on his predecessor brought to life “the phases of the pontificate of the unforgettable John Paul II,” Associated Press reported.

The made-for-TV movie Karol, a Pope Who Remained Man, was shown March 30 to Benedict in a Vatican auditorium. Benedict said he was left “petrified, as if we were present” when watching the reconstruction of the 1981 attempt on John Paul’s life by Ali Agca in St. Peter’s Square. The film tells the story of John Paul’s pontificate from his election in 1978, through his globe-trotting ministry, to the protracted suffering of his last days in 2005.

The Holy Father said he was reminded of John Paul’s “vibrant words to condemn the oppression of totalitarian regimes, murderous violence and war.”

The Name of the Rose: John Paul II

USA TODAY, April 1 — To mark the first anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II, a mail-order garden company has created a limited-edition hybrid tea rose in his memory, the newspaper reported.

The commemorative rose, developed by Jackson & Perkins of Medford, Ore., is an “absolutely stunning, brilliant white,” said spokesman Bill Ihle. The color, chosen by the Vatican, signifies purity, eternity and the white cassock, he added.

Ten percent of the net proceeds will be donated to a Vatican-selected charity benefiting sub-Saharan Africa.