Pope Benedict XVI has said in his message for World Youth Day 2011 that he felt “hemmed in” growing up in Germany under the Nazis and wished to “break out into the open”.
The Pope said: “During the Nazi dictatorship and the war, we were, so to speak, ‘hemmed in’ by the dominant power structure. So we wanted to break out into the open, to experience the whole range of human possibilities.”
But he also spoke of the “deepest aspirations” of young people, saying that “in thinking of my own youth, I realise that stability and security are not the questions that most occupy the minds of young people ... the years of our youth are also a time when we are seeking to get the most out of life.
