THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Britain’s “courageous resistance” to the “evil ideology” of Nazism was honoured by the Pope as he spoke to a crowd of more than 50,000 in Birmingham.
Benedict XVI said it was “deeply moving” to recall the sacrifices made by Britons during the Second World War and paid particular tribute to nearby Coventry, which was heavily bombed during the Battle of Britain 70 years ago.
Speaking at the Beatification Mass for Cardinal John Henry Newman in Cofton Park, near where the Victorian theologian was buried, the Pope said the destruction of the conflict should be remembered with “shame and horror”.
His words were particularly significant given controversy over his own wartime record. As a 14 year-old growing up in Germany, the then Joseph Ratzinger was drafted into the Hitler Youth and later enlisted in the anti-aircraft corps. >>> Martin Beckford | Sunday, September 19, 2010
