The Rev. Georg Ratzinger, a Roman Catholic priest and famous choirmaster who was the older brother of Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, died Wednesday in Regensburg, Germany, where he had lived most of his life. He was 96 years old.
His death was confirmed by the diocese in Regensburg. Father Ratzinger had been suffering from a serious illness that the diocese did not identify. Benedict traveled from the Vatican to see his brother in Germany last month.
While Father Ratzinger had much in common with his younger brother, who were ordained to the Catholic priesthood the same year, and both played the piano, the elderly Ratzinger had a career independent from the Vatican, the world that consumed his brother’s life.
After studying music in Munich and serving as choral conductor in various German churches, Father Ratzinger became musical director at St. Peter’s Cathedral of the 10th century in Regensburg, a city about 130 kilometers northeast of Munich. He served as a choirmaster in one of Europe’s great children’s choirs, the Regensburg Domspatzen (Domspatzen means Sparrows of the Cathedral) from 1964 to 1994.
He conducted the choir on concert tours to the United States, Scandinavia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, and the Vatican. He also supervised the professional recording of numerous works, including “Christmas Oratorio” by JS Bach and “Psalmen Davids” by Heinrich Schütz.
In 1977 Father Ratzinger conducted the choir at the consecration of his brother as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. Joseph Ratzinger was named cardinal shortly thereafter and became Pope Benedict XVI in 2005, after the death of Pope John Paul II.
Father Ratzinger was also the author of “My Brother the Pope” (2011), a memoir as written by Michael Hesemann. He told Mr. Hesemann that the dynamics between the brothers changed after 2005. He fondly recalled that for much of his life, Joseph Ratzinger would present himself as “the little brother of the famous choral director”. But after the conclave that made his brother a pope, he added, he became known primarily as “the pope’s brother.”
The reminiscence was a little exaggerated; Even before emerging as pope in 2005, Cardinal Ratzinger was known on the world stage as John Paul’s theological enforcer of strict positions on doctrine, morality, and the primacy of faith. He held that role for more than two decades as prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, once known as the Holy Office.
In 2010, long after Father Ratzinger resigned as choir director, several of the boys singing in Regensburg Cathedral accused of being systematically abused by staff. At the time, Father Ratzinger apologized for slapping the children during his tenure. He said he stopped administering corporal punishment when the church banned it in 1980.
Later, the choir began an investigation and hired an attorney, Ulrich Weber, to investigate further allegations of beatings, torture and sexual abuse. Mr. Weber concluded that more than 500 children had been abused over several decades. Father Ratzinger was not involved in the report. When asked at a 2016 press conference if the choir director knew about the abuse, Mr. Weber said, “After my investigation, I must assume it is.”
A few days later, Father Ratzinger gave an interview to a Bavarian newspaper, Passauer Neue Presse, and denied having any knowledge of the abuse. “I didn’t hear anything about sexual abuse,” he said. “I didn’t know that sexual abuse was taking place at the time.”
Georg Ratzinger was born on January 15, 1924 in Pleiskirchen, Bavaria, the son of Joseph Ratzinger, a police officer, and Maria (Peintner) Ratzinger, who, before marriage, worked as a cook and housekeeper. Georg was the second of three children; He had an older sister, Maria, who died in 1991, and his brother, Joseph, was born in 1927.
The family moved several times due to the father’s work and, later, due to his open opposition to Hitler. “Our parents made no secret of the fact that they were anti-Nazi and despised Hitler with all their hearts,” wrote Father Ratzinger in the memoirs.
Major Joseph Ratzinger used to work on Sundays, and when he was not working he loved to sing in the church choir. “I must admit,” wrote Father Ratzinger, “we rarely went to mass together.” Most of the family praying, he said, came to the table:
“Every day we prayed together, and in fact before and after each meal (we had breakfast, dinner and dinner together). The main prayer time was after the noon dinner, when the family’s particular concerns were expressed. “
Georg entered St. Michael’s Archdiocesan Minor Seminary in Traunstein, in southeastern Bavaria, and his younger brother followed him a few years later. “Take good care of Joseph,” his mother told Georg when he sent Joseph.
“As early as 1938,” wrote Father Ratzinger, “the seminary registered us with the Hitler Youth.” It was the law, he said. “There were no exemptions.”
Both young seminarians were later recruited into the German army. Georg was shot in the arm in a gun battle with US troops in Bolsena, Italy, on June 12, 1944. He was retained as a prisoner of war in the Naples area by the United States Army before being released in 1945 and returning To Germany.
The brothers remained close, and the youngest taught at the University of Regensburg before he was appointed archbishop. In the 2011 memoirs, Mr. Hesemann asked Father Ratzinger if the two priests watched television together in the Vatican.
“Well, before the news, there used to be an ‘Inspector Rex’ television series,” replied Father Ratzinger. “We always saw him, because we also like dogs. We know Herr Helmut Brossmann well, the owner of the German Shepherd Rex, who plays the leading role. He lives in the vicinity of Regensburg. “
Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.
