"Deserter" at D-Day celebration

"Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger represented Pope John Paul II in Normandy at the weekend, marking the 60th anniversary of the D-Day offensive...."

"In 1943, he was drafted along with other students of his age into a military training program, and received some instruction in anti-aircraft tactics.

"Only his status as a future priest enabled him to avoid service in the notorious SS; instead he was sent to an infantry barracks in Traunstein. By now fiercely opposed to the Nazi regime, he deserted from the army, and returned to his family home near Traunstein in April 1945."

(There seem to be no reports of His Eminence's military service record being denounced by Michael Moore.)