Susan Sarandon calls Pope Benedict XVI a "Nazi" - Catholics need to counter these hateful lies directed against the Vicar of Christ

"I was told I had an over-abundance of
original sin" Susan Sarandon (source)

Many opponents of the Church seem to think that it is perfectly acceptable to lie about her teachings, about her history, about the real scale of the clerical child abuse crisis, or about the Pope. They have been doing this for years, whilst ironically also claiming to be rationalists or lovers of science ("knowledge"). But one of the most pernicious modern anti-Catholic lies, which seems to be generally accepted as "fact" by the Church's detractors, is that Pope Benedict XVI is or was a "Nazi". Last Saturday it seems that the Hollywood actress Susan Sarandon joined in this smear campaign against the Pope, referring to him as a Nazi during an interview with fellow actor, Bob Balaban.

According to yesterday's Newsday, which seems to have broken the story: -

Susan Sarandon dropped a zinger or two when she appeared at the Bay Street Theatre Saturday for an interview with fellow actor Bob Balaban. The outspokenly political actress talked about Occupy Wall Street, recalled her run-ins with the NYPD over the Amadou Diallo case and called the current pope a "Nazi." 

That last comment was somewhat offhanded. She was discussing her 1995 film "Dead Man Walking," based on the anti-death-penalty book by Sister Helen Prejean, a copy of which she sent to the pope. 

"The last one," she said, "not this Nazi one we have now." Balaban gently tut-tutted, but Sarandon only repeated her remark. (emphasis mine)

I really don't know who Susan Sarandon is, but her Wikipedia entry claims that "[s]he is ... noted for her social and political activism for a variety of liberal causes." One assumes, then, that she is amongst the Left-leaning set of self-righteous activists who hate the Church merely because Catholicism refuses to modify God's moral laws for the sake today's relativistic obsession with political correctness - apparently, Sarandon has already stated that "the Catholic Church angers [her] so much." Maybe, then, she feels justified to feed this anger by undermining the Papacy with apparent lies and slurs? It seems that Sarandon is typical of most relativists and so-called liberals, who care very little for the truth, even when they claim to be objective advocates of it.

It really is time now for Catholics to effectively counter this insidious "Nazi" smear against the present Vicar of Jesus Christ, for it is often used by those desperate to undermine the Church's moral teachings and therefore by those who, knowingly or unknowingly, wish to lead souls to ruin.

The truth is that Pope Benedict XVI despised the Nazis as a young man, and has continued to speak about the horrific effects of Hitler's awful dictatorship throughout his ministry as theologian, priest, bishop and pontiff. Although he, like all young Germans at the time, was forced to join the Hitler Youth as a teenager, and even had to wear a German uniform during the War, it is clear beyond any doubt that both the young Joseph Ratzinger and his family were totally opposed to the Nazi regime.

It is well-known that Joseph Ratzinger's father, an officer in the Bavarian State Police who was also called Joseph, constantly had to face transfers and demotion due to his resistance to Nazism. He often tried to reign in the excesses of the local SA (the Nazi brown-shirted thugs), because he was convinced that their beliefs were severely opposed both to Catholicism and to humanity in general. It is also known that the older Joseph Ratzinger's intolerance of Nazism was shared by his wife and children. When the younger Joseph Ratzinger (now Pope Benedict XVI) was eventually forced, in 1941, to join the Hitler Youth as a 14-year-old boy, he did so under protest, and even managed to avoid attending the organisation's meetings - a dispensation gained mainly thanks to a sympathetic maths teacher (cf Zenit, which quotes Salt of the Earth by Pope Benedict XVI). Even when the young Ratzinger was conscripted into the German military, he never fired a shot and eventually managed to desert - an action that could have led to his execution.

Pope Benedict XVI has constantly and vehemently spoken out against the various forms of tyranny that oppress humanity - from the horrendous dictatorship of relativism (a dictatorship that Sarandon seems to actively support) to the politically totalitarian regimes of which Nazism is the classic example. In fact, the Pope has sometimes even made connections between the modern dictatorship of relativism and the Nazis, who also "wished to eradicate God from society" (cf Pope Benedict XVI speech to Queen Elizabeth II, 16 September 2010). In his recent address to the German federal parliament (the Bundestag), Pope Benedict XVI called the Nazis a "highly organized band of robbers, capable of threatening the whole world and driving it to the edge of the abyss." He also emphasised in the same speech that those with a Christian understanding of humanity are compelled by their consciences to act against the state when it adopts dictatorial systems, such as the "Nazi regime and other totalitarian regime[s]." When talking about Nazism and other forms of dictatorship, Pope Benedict XVI has always condemned these regimes in the strongest terms, for he knows and believes that these tyrannical systems are frighteningly real manifestations of evil.

It is sad to note, then, that Susan Sarandon seems happy to lie in her determination to undermine Catholicism, or express her hatred of the Church. It's even more depressing to note, though, that she is not alone in this smear campaign against Pope Benedict XVI and the teachings of of Jesus Christ. One need only read the quotes attributed to so-called rationalists like Richard Dawkins to realise that when it comes to the Papacy and the Catholic Church, all reason and objectivity is abandoned, even by those who should know better or who claim to love the truth. Those with a vested interest in refuting or mocking Catholic morality, such as gay rights activists, also often use the "Nazi" smear against Pope Benedict XVI. By doing so, they are desperately and despicably trying to corrupt the truth so as to ruin souls - even if they might not see it that way. In that sense, these characters, including Sarandon, have to be countered, but also need our prayers - so that one day they, too, may come to a full understanding of the truth, which is to know God Himself.

As for Susan Sarandon's films, let's just say that until she withdraws her comments about Pope Benedict XVI, I for one will not be buying a cinema ticket for anything she is in. I encourage every other Catholic to boycott her films, too.

[Image: Susan Sarandon by David Shankbone; this image has been released into the public domain by its author and is attributed to him under a Creative Commons licence; source: Wikimedia Commons]