Well, there are lots of reasons to be creeped out by Ratzinger, but the whole “former Nazi” thing is unfair.

Ratzinger was 12 years old when World War II broke out. When he was 14 he joined the Hitler Youth because all teenage boys were forced to join the Hitler Youth by law. When he got older he was drafted into the military and he deserted his post at risk of summary execution. Ratzinger’s a lot of things, many of them bad, but a “former Nazi” isn’t one of them.