It had to do with the culture of life and death, in the end.
Asked by one student how he realized his own priestly vocation, the 78-year-old pontiff 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,” Benedict 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.’”
“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,” he said.
He’s going to Israel in ‘07.
Good.
April 6th, 2006 at 4:14 pm
A redeeming voice, of German origin.
A thought more profound than can be expressed.