VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Here is an exclusive excerpt from the English translation of "My Brother, the Pope" by Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, which will be released March 1 by Ignatius Press.
Click on the following to read the short interview: CNS STORY: CNS exclusive excerpt: Msgr. Ratzinger discusses his brother, the pope
Famous Members of of the pope’s family:
Georg Ratzinger
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
Orders
Ordination
29 June 1951
by Michael von Faulhaber
Personal details
Born
15 January 1924 (1924-01-15) (age 88)
Pleiskirchen, Germany
Georg Ratzinger, PA (born 15 January 1924 in Pleiskirchen) is a German Catholic priest and musician, known for his work as the conductor of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir of Regensburg, Germany. He is the elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI. His granduncle was German politician Georg Ratzinger.
Contents
[show]Early life and military service
Ratzinger was born in Bavaria to Joseph Ratzinger, a police officer, and Maria Ratzinger, née Peintner. He had a younger brother, Joseph, who later became Pope Benedict XVI, and a sister, Maria. Early in his life he showed musical talent, playing the church organ already at the age of 11. In 1935 he entered the minor seminary in Traunstein and had professional musical instruction there. In 1941 he encountered for the first time the choir of the Regensburger Domspatzen, which he would later direct, when they performed in Salzburg on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mozart's death.
In summer 1942 Georg Ratzinger was drafted to the Reichsarbeitsdienst, and the same autumn to the German Wehrmacht. In 1944 he was wounded in battle in Italy. At the end of World War II, he was a POW of the U.S. Army in the vicinity of Naples, but was released, and arrived at home in July 1945.
Education and ordination
In January 1946, he and his brother Joseph (later Pope Benedict XVI) entered the seminary of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising to study for the priesthood. At the same time he pursued his musical studies.
Georg and Joseph were ordained priests in 1951 by Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber. Afterwards, Georg studied Church music in Munich, while serving in different priestly functions for the diocese.
Domspatzen directorship
He completed his studies in 1957 and became chorus director in his home parish in Traunstein. In February 1964 he was made musical director, Domkapellmeister, at St. Peters Cathedral in Regensburg, thereby becoming the chorus master of the Cathedral Choir, the Regensburger Domspatzen.
As director of this world-renowned boys' and men's choir, Ratzinger oversaw the recording of numerous pieces (e.g. J. S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio, J.S. Bach: Motets, H. Schütz: Psalms of David), concert tours (among others to the U.S., Scandinavia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, and the Vatican; and a tour of Germany every year), and the liturgical activities of the choir.
In 1976 the choir celebrated its 1,000th anniversary.
In 1977 Ratzinger conducted the Domspatzen at his brother Joseph's consecration as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. They sang in honor of Queen Elizabeth II at her state visit in 1978, and at Pope John Paul II's visit to Munich in 1980; they also gave a concert for the state guests at the NATO summit in 1982 under the auspices of then German president Karl Carstens.
In 2010 Ratzinger indicated he would be prepared to testify to aid investigations into claims of abuse at the Regensburger Domspatzen choir in Germany.[1][2]
The Regensburg Diocese said that a former singer came forward with allegations of sexual abuse in the early 1960s, predating Ratzinger's tenure from 1964–1994.[3] The German newsweekly Der Spiegel has reported that therapists in the region are treating several alleged victims from the choir.
Allegations of sexual and physical abuse under his directorship
A man who lived in the choir-linked boarding school until 1967 has contended that "a sophisticated system of sadistic punishments in connection with sexual lust" had been installed there. Der Spiegel quoted the man, a composer Franz Wittenbrink, as saying it would be inexplicable that the pope's brother didn't know anything about it.[4] Ratzinger has admitted slapping pupils in the face.[5] He commented: "At the start, I also slapped people in the face, but I always had a bad conscience". He claims to have been relieved when corporal punishment was forbidden in 1980. Ratzinger has denied any knowledge of sexual abuse.[5] A Vatican spokesperson stated that the allegations are a campaign allegedly aimed against the pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
Later life
Msgr. Ratzinger retired from his position as director of the choir in 1994 and has been a canon in Regensburg since 25 January 2009.
In 2005, during a visit to his brother in Rome, symptoms of heart failure and arrhythmia led to a brief admission at the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic. Georg Ratzinger is almost blind.
There has been speculation that in a future consistory held by Benedict XVI, he could be made a non-voting Cardinal for his services to Catholic music and liturgy, but the ancient practice of conferring cardinalates on notable papal relatives has not been observed for some time- though it has happened and the Pope is free to do so as supreme ruler of the earthly Church (being unbound by traditional regulations against doing so in secular positions). It would not be totally unprecedented due to Monsignor Ratzinger's prestigious contributions to church music. In the last forty years or so under Paul VI, John Paul II, and Benedict XVI, the cardinalate has been conferred on one or two priests or deserving prelates during a consistory, generally those above the voting age of 80 and who were not archbishops in line for elevation (and sometimes secretly, in pectore), for their services to the Church.
On 29 June 2011 Msgr Ratzinger celebrated sixty years as a priest and gave an interview on the topic. During which he noted that during the ordination "My brother was the second to youngest, though there were some who were older." He also noted that "I have the stole and the cassock from that day".[6]
Honours and awards
- In 1967 he was made Chaplain of His Holiness and in 1976 Prelate of Honour of His Holiness.
- In 1981 Georg Ratzinger was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany.
- In 1994, he was made a Protonotary apostolic.
- In 2005 he was awarded the Austrian Decoration for Science and Art
- Msgr. Georg Ratzinger was made an honorary citizen of Castel Gandolfo in 2008.
- In 2009 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
References
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ German Clergy Scandal Reaches the Pope's Family
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Vorwürfe gegen Kirche: Regensburger Domspatzen durch Missbrauch traumatisiert – SPIEGEL ONLINE – Nachrichten – Panorama
- ^ a b Dutch church orders inquiry into sex abuse allegations, BBC
- ^ GEORG RATZINGER ALSO MARKS 60TH ANNIVERSARY
Georg Ratzinger (politician)— great uncle to Monsignoir Ratzinger and Pope Benedict
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Georg Ratzinger (April 3, 1844 in Rickering at Deggendorf – December 3, 1899 in Munich) was a German Catholic priest, political economist, social reformer, author and politician. He saw the gospel and Catholic social teaching as a means of empowering the poor.
Ratzinger was a pupil at the gymnasium at Passau during the years 1855-63, studied theology at Munich, 1863–67, and was ordained priest in 1867. In 1868 he received the degree of Doctor of Theology at Munich. During the following years he devoted himself partly to pastoral, partly to journalistic work. In 1869 he was chaplain at Berchtesgaden; 1870-71 he was editor of the journal "Fränkisches Volksblatt" at Würzburg; 1872–74, chaplain at Landshut, then editor, until 1876, of the "Volksfreund", at Munich.[1]
He was a member of the Parliament of Bavaria from 1875 to 1878 and of the German Reichstag from 1877 to 1878. During this period he belonged to the Centre Party. He combined the roles of priest and politician in a way which his grandnephew, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, rejected.
With exception of a pastorate of three years at Günzelhafen, 1885–1888, he lived for a number of years at Munich, where he devoted himself to journalism and research.
In 1893 Ratzinger was again elected to the Bavarian Landtag, where he was now a moderate adherent of the "Bayerischer Bauernbund" (Bavarian Peasant Union) party, his views of social politics having caused him in the meantime to sever his connections with the Centre Party. In 1898 he was again elected a member of the Reichstag. He remained a member of both bodies until his death.
As a literary man Ratzinger deserves much credit for his scholarly work in political economy and in historical subjects. His chief works, distinguished by erudition, richness of thought, and animated exposition, are: "Geschichte der Armenpflege" (prize essay, Freiburg, 1868, 2nd revised ed., 1884); "Die Volkswirtschaft in ihren sittlichen Grundlagen. Ethnischsociale Studien über Cultur und Civilisation (Freiburg, 1881; 2nd. completely revised ed., 1895).
The later work work maintains the ethical principles of Christianity as the only sure basis of political economy and opposes the materialistic system of what is called the "classical political economy" of Adam Smith.
"Forschungen zur bayerischen Geschichte" (Kempten, 1898); this contains a large number of studies on early Bavarian history and on the history of civilization, based on a series of unconnected treatises, which had first appeared in the "Historisch-politische Blätter". Of his smaller works the following should be mentioned: "Das Concil und die deustche Wissenschaft" (anonymously issued at Mainz, 1872) appeared first in the "Katholik", 1872, I; "Die Erhaltung des Bauernstandes" (Freiburg, 1883).
His nephew was the police officer Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., father of Pope Benedict XVI (born Joseph Ratzinger) and Georg Ratzinger, the priest and church musician.
References
- Georg Ratzinger (politician) in the German National Library catalogue (German)
- Georg Ratzinger alias Robert Waldhausen Jüdisches Erwerbsleben. Skizzen aus dem sozialen Leben der Gegenwart (1892)
- Georg Ratzinger alias Gottfried Wolf Das Judentum in Bayern. Skizzen aus der Vergangenheit und Vorschläge für die Zukunft (1897)
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
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