Regarding Benedict XVI

So, much is being made in certain quarters of the fact that the new Pope was a member of the Hitler Youth.  He joined when he was 14 - in a time and place where not joining the Hitler Youth was likely to get you killed.  But let's suppose for the sake of argument that he'd done it because he wanted to instead of under threat of death.  Suppose he really believed in the Nazi ideology and actually thought gassing Jews was a good thing and so on.  What then?

Well, the fact would remain that he was 14 years old at the time.  I sure hope that everyone who'd hold him morally culpable for things he did when he was 14, is also willing to campaign to lower the voting age, the drinking age, the age(s) of sexual consent, and so on, to 14 years or less.  If 14 years is old enough to be held responsible for joining the Hitler Youth, then you bet it's old enough for those other, much smaller, responsibilities.