now really, though. i'm not a fan of the pope either, but that's a bit of a crap argument. membership of the hitler youth was absolutely compulsory by the time the pope was 14, and at the height of Nazi success no less. Just because somebody was forced to join a disgusting branch of the nazi regime doesn't mean that he agreed with what they stood for. i'm not saying the catholic church did a lot to stop the nazis at the time, especially following the signing of the concordat, but considering the pope is now the pope i can assume that the final solution/euthenasia/murdering of the disabled/mentally ill etc. are all things a religious person such as the pope would be thoroughly against.
i don't like the pope because he's basically the figurehead of everything i hate about religion. so you could hate him for that, or disrespect him for his taste in music or his stupid popemobile - but refusing to acknowledge anyone because of what they were forced to do when they were 14 is a biiit ridiculous. just sayin'.