Benedict’s childhood ‘blighted by Nazism’

POPE BENEDICT spoke yesterday of how his childhood was blighted by the Nazis as he ended a turbulent visit to Britain.

The Pope used a mass of beatification attended by more than 50,000 people in Birmingham to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain by denouncing the “evil ideology” that dominated his native Germany while he was growing-up.

“For me, as one who lived and suffered through the dark days of the Nazi regime in Germany, it is deeply moving to be here with you on this occasion, and to recall how many of your fellow citizens sacrificed their lives courageously resisting the forces of that evil ideology,” he said.