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"Unknown to many members of the church, however, Ratzinger's past includes brief membership of the Hitler Youth movement and wartime service with a German army anti-aircraft unit. .......He upset many Jews with a statement in 1987 that Jewish history and scripture reach fulfilment only in Christ - a position denounced by some as "theological anti-Semitism". He made more enemies in 2000, when he signed a document, Dominus Jesus, in which he argued "only in the Catholic Church is there eternal salvation".
Some of his staunchest critics are in Germany. A recent poll in news magazine Der Spiegel showed opponents of a Ratzinger papacy outnumbered supporters by 36 to 29. As one cardinal who was in two minds about him put it: "He would probably be a great pope, but I have no idea how I would explain his election back home."
One liberal theologian, when asked what he thought of a Ratzinger papacy, was more direct: "It fills me with horror."
The Sunday Times
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