The Pope's Past

Analysis: Ratzinger in the ascendance - (United Press International)

Ratzinger, once a teenage infantryman in the German army at the end of World War II, and then briefly an inmate in an American prisoner-of-war camp, has repeatedly stated he would like to retire to a Bavarian village and dedicate himself to writing books.

Why is it that the new Pope's service as one of Hitler's soldiers does not seem to have excited more comment, particularly in light of Pius XII's complicity in the massacre of the Jews?