Pope talks about his vocation, meets with youth

[source: AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino]

Some quotes from the AP story:

Pope Benedict XVI said Thursday he became convinced he should become a priest to help confront what he called the "anti-human culture" of the Nazis in his native Germany.

Benedict made the comments during a meeting with thousands of young people in St. Peter's Square during which he took questions from five students on issues such as the family, how to read the Bible and faith and reason.

Asked by one student how he realized his own priestly vocation, the 78-year-old pontiff said that when he was young in Germany it was more "normal" to accept faith and vocations than it is today.

...

The pope acknowledged that he had doubts about the commitment required for joining the priesthood and whether his love for theology alone was enough of a reason to become ordained.

"I asked myself if I really had the capacity to live an entirely celibate life," he said. "Being a theoretical and not practical man, I also knew it wasn't enough to love theology to be a good priest, but I also needed to be available to young people, old, sick and poor people."

He said that in the end, God as well as friends and other priests helped him to decide.

The meeting was Benedict's second in which he has publicly fielded questions from young Catholics. Benedict also has met several times with priests in informal town-hall style question-and-answer sessions.

Benedict was asked how Catholics can harmonize the apparent conflict between faith and reason. He gave a highly philosophical response that touched on mathematics, chaos theory and the "intelligent design" behind creation.