Criticism of the Pope for his forced entry into the Hitler youth when he was a teenager misses an important point: He deserted. “Moreover, his failure to attend Hitler Youth meetings brought economic hardship to his family: it meant no discounts for school tuition,” Bill Donahue of the Catholic League For Religious and Civil Rights notes. “None of this was a stunt.”

“Furthermore, no one can deny that the pope was coerced into doing what the Nazis demanded of young men at the time. Günter Grass and Jürgen Habermas, two German intellectuals loved by the pope’s critics, were also forced to join the Hitler Youth. But because they are left-wing icons, no one implies they are anti-Semitic.”

“Even Bill Maher apologized when I blasted him for accusing the pope of being a Nazi. The guilty media should do likewise and correct the record.”

Malcolm A. Kline is the executive director of Accuracy in Academia.