Monsignor Ratzinger, brother of the pope dies at 96

VATICAN CITY - Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, musician and retired older brother of Pope Benedict XVI, died on July 1 at the age of 96.

According to Vatican News, Msgr. Ratzinger died in Regensburg, Germany, where he had been hospitalized. Pope Benedict, 93 years old, flew to Regensburg on June 18 to be with his sick brother.

When the retired pope arrived in Germany, the diocese of Regensburg issued a statement asking the public to respect his and his brother's privacy.

"It could be the last time the two brothers, Georg and Joseph Ratzinger, have seen each other in this world," says the diocesan declaration.

The two brothers attended the seminary together after the Second World War and were ordained priests together in 1951. Although the priestly ministry took them in different directions, they continued to stay close and spend their holidays and vacations together, even in the Vatican and in the Pope's residence. summer in Castel Gandolfo. Their sister, Maria, died in 1991.

In a 2006 interview, Ratzinger claimed that he and his brother entered the seminary to serve. “We were willing to serve in any way, to go wherever the bishop would send us, even if we both had our preferences, of course. I was hoping for a call related to my interest in music, and my brother had prepared himself from a conscientious theologian. But that was not what we indulged in our personal hobbies. We said yes to the priesthood to serve, however necessary, and it was a blessing that we both had to follow church careers that also conformed to our secret desires at the time. "

Born in Pleiskirchen, Germany, in 1924, Ratzinger was already an expert organist and pianist when he entered the minor seminary in Traunstein in 1935. Forced to leave the seminary at the outbreak of the war, he was injured while serving in Italy with German weapons. Forces of 1944 and later were held as prisoners of war by U.S. forces.

At the end of the war, he and his brother enrolled in the seminary of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 1946 and were ordained priests five years later. He led the Regensburg children's choir from 1964 to 1994, when he retired.

Six years after his retirement, allegations were made that the school head frequented by the boys sexually abused some of them. Ratzinger said he had no idea of ​​the abuse, but nevertheless apologized to the victims. He said he knew the boys had been physically punished in school, but he hadn't known "the exaggerated vehemence with which the director acted," he told the Bavarian newspaper Neue Passauer Presse.

When Ratzinger was named honorary citizen of Castel Gandolfo in 2008, his younger brother, Pope Benedict, told the crowd: “From the beginning of my life, my brother has always been not only a companion, but also a guide. reliable".

At the time Benedetto was 81 years old and his brother 84.

“The days that remain to live gradually decrease, but even in this phase, my brother helps me to accept the weight of each day with serenity, humility and courage. I thank him, ”said Benedict.

"For me, it was a point of orientation and reference with the clarity and determination of his decisions," said the retired pope. "He always showed me the way to go, even in difficult situations."

The brothers were back together in public in January 2009 to celebrate Ratzinger's 85th birthday with a special concert in the Vatican Sistine Chapel, the site of the conclave that had elected Benedict in 2005.

The Regensburg children's choir, the Regensburg Cathedral orchestra and guest soloists performed Mozart's "Mass in C minor", a favorite of both brothers and one who brought strong memories. Benedict told the guests in the Sistine Chapel that when he was 14, he and his brother went to Salzburg, Austria, to listen to Mozart's Mass.

"It was music in prayer, the divine office, where we could almost touch something of the magnificence and beauty of God himself, and we were touched," said the pope.

The pope ended his observations by praying that the Lord "one day would allow all of us to enter the heavenly concert to fully experience the joy of God."