Benedict XVI: “I suffered the dark days of Nazism”

Birmingham (United Kingdom), September 19, 2010

Benedict XVI beatified the Cardinal John Henry Newman (1801-1890) in a convent on the outskirts of Birmingham during his official visit to the United Kingdom, facing criticism and protests against him.

The Pope was booed during a large demonstration and was accused of being a “Nazi” due to his allegedly participation in the Hitler Youth and the hypocrisy regarding the sexual abuse of minors done by Catholic priests.

Although the main idea of the march was to protest to ask to the government not the bear with public money, the messages were confused and there were boos to the cardinals and slogans in favor of homosexuals and against the church hierarchy .

In this context, the pontiff said during the beatification of Cardinal Newman that “I have lived and suffered the long and dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, which has motivated me to be here and to remind your fellow citizens, many who sacrificed their lives and had tenaciously resisted the demonic forces of this ideology”.

Benedict XVI added that seventy years later “he remembers with shame and horror the terrible price of death and destruction that war brings with it” and renewed his determination to work for peace and reconciliation, wherever a conflict may exist.

According to news agency EFE, the beatification will be held at Cofton Park, on the outskirts of Birmingham, close to the house of one of the Oratory of St. Philip Neri in England (Great Britain), founded by the cardinal. There are lying his remains. The ceremony was attended by 70,000 people from all points of Britain.

John Henry Newman (1801-1890) was a convert from Anglicanism, considered one of the “spiritual fathers” of Vatican II and a renowned intellectual who has influenced the educational formation of Ratzinger.