It may be worth noting that Joseph Ratzinger had personal experience of the Nazi approach to "rejects." A cousin with Down's Syndrome, who in 1941 was 14 years old, just a few months younger than Ratzinger himself, was taken away by the Nazi authorities for "therapy." Not long afterwards, the family received word that he was dead, presumably one of the "undesirables" eliminated during that time.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The Pope and Down syndrome
I am not a Catholic and know very little about Pope Benedict XVI, but came across the following while reading up about his visit to the US:
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4 comments:
You might hope that in the intervening 67 years he might have changed his mind, but then who am I to know the mind of the Pope?
I'm don't think he had anything negative to do with what happened... just thought it was an interesting bit of history.
sometimes i just hate the things i know about. i wish i could unknow all the hatred and murder and the enormous mountain of human attrocities, but that's not really an answer, is it? it's such a heavy knowing though.
I'm sure his family was devastated. I suppose many German families were victimized by the Nazi's too.
My heart breaks when I read stories like this.
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