Pope Ironically Compares Atheism With Nazism

It takes a lot of nerve to be the Pope of the Catholic Church and toy around with Godwin's Law.  Godwin's Law is the informal debate rule that an argument is over when one side or the other invokes Hitler or the Nazis as an argument against his opponent.  The reason is that under normal circumstances nothing anyone is arguing about is fairly comparable to the monstrousness of Nazis and Hitler.

The Pope has seen fit, however, to say, "We can recall how Britain and her leaders stood against Nazi tyranny that wished to eradicate God from society and denied our common humanity to many, especially the Jews...As we reflect on the sobering lessons of atheist extremism of the 20th century, let us never forget how the exclusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncated vision of man and of society."

This is a statement coming from the head of a church which in 1998 formally apologized to the millions of Jews murdered by the Nazis in World War Two for the Church's own conduct.   The Church itself stated that its actions and inaction in relation to the Holocaust required not only an apology, but an "act of repentance."

Immediately after the Nazis took power, the Vatican wasted no time at all in reaching a treaty or "Reichsconcordat" with Adolf Hitler. Hitler had not even been Chancellor of the Third Reich for six months at the time, and the Vatican rushed to preserve its own authority.  The Reichsconcordat with the Nazis began the Catholic Church's complicity with the Nazis, entered into for the not-so-Christian reason that the Church wanted to save itself.  That, of course, is the primary concern.  The mere lives of non-Catholics was secondary.

And the Catholic Church did not just kowtow to fascists in Germany, it also actively supported them in Spain.  Shall the Pope explain how the church entered into a "modus vivendi" with Generalissimo Francisco Franco, followed by a later formal concordat?  And, has the Pope any concerns about the church having gotten into bed with a dictator for the purpose of securing for itself a religious monopoly along with control of Spanish education and of the press, and eventually state funding and official recognition of church dogma?  In the words of Christopher Hitchens, "The [Catholic] church, as far as I know, has not endorsed any war as just since it supported General Franco's invasion of Spain to destroy the Spanish Republic with a Muslim mercenary army in the 30's..."

The Catholic Church similarly entered into favorable treaties with Mussolini's fascist government in Italy in 1929 and the early 1930's.  The church took the opportunity to solidify and expand its own power and primacy by dealing, gladly, with all of the fascist dictators of the time.

When the Vichy French government introduced "Jewish laws" (which parroted the notorious "Nuremberg Laws"), French Catholic Bishops wrote to the Pope asking for assistance and guidance in opposing them.  The Pope responded to the appeals by stating that Nuremberg Laws, and their equivalents, were not in conflict with Catholic teaching. The British, Americans and Poles also tried to persuade the Vatican to publish condemnations of the Nazi extermination of the Jews.  The Vatican flatly refused.

Let us not forget that the only member of Hitler's High Command to be excommunicated was Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.  He was not, however, excommunicated for being a Nazi, murdering Jews, issuing hateful propaganda lies, or otherwise participating, leading or authorizing the horrors of the Holocaust or World War Two in general.

Why was Goebbels excommunicated?

For marrying a Protestant.

Atheists are like Nazis?  How dare you, Mr. Ratzinger?  How dare you?