An incident struck me in the new biography of Benedict XVI by Peter Seewald. In 1944, aged 17, Joseph Ratzinger was drafted into a labour unit.

An incident struck me in the new biography of Benedict XVI by Peter Seewald. In 1944, aged 17, Joseph Ratzinger was drafted into a labour unit. In the middle of the night they were lined up still half asleep by an SS officer who made each step forward before the whole troop to get them to “volunteer” for the Waffen-SS. Ratzinger, like a few others, said he intended to be a Catholic priest. He was dismissed with abuse, but swallowed it happily because he was delivered from the lying “voluntary service” and its consequences.

A few months later, shortly before the war ended, he decided to walk out of the barracks and make his way home. This was desertion, and could easily have meant death. Partly because his arm was in a sling, he made it.

I had wondered (ever since Benedict came to Birmingham to beatify him) quite why Newman impressed him and his fellow anti-Nazis during the war. I think now that it was the power of Newman’s understanding of conscience as the voice of God. This is no protection against the SS or being shot, but it does prime someone of integrity to make brave decisions at the right time.

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