Benedict's Call



From the Star-Telegram

Pope Benedict XVI became convinced that he should become a priest to help confront the "anti-human culture" of the Nazis in his native Germany, he said during a meeting with thousands of youths in St. Peter's Square on Thursday.

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," said Benedict, 78. "We were told very loudly that in the new Germany 'there will not be any more 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.

Benedict was enrolled in the Hitler Youth as a teen and deserted from the German army near the end of World War II.

The pope acknowledged that he had doubts about the commitment required for joining the priesthood and whether his love for theology was enough reason to be ordained.

"I asked myself if I really had the capacity to live an entirely celibate life," he said.

"Being a theoretical and not practical man, I also knew it wasn't enough to love theology to be a good priest, but I also needed to be available to young people, old, sick and poor people."

He said that in the end, God as well as friends and other priests helped him to decide.

The meeting was the second in which he has publicly fielded questions from young Catholics.

h/t for picture American Papist