MONS GEORG RATZINGER LAID TO REST
Benedict XVI follows brother's
funeral on livestream
REGENSBURG, Germany, July 8, 2020 (CNS) - Retired Pope Benedict XVI followed the funeral of his brother, Georg Ratzinger, via livestreaming, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.
Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg said Pope Benedict, 93, was connected to the Mass taking place for his older brother July 8 in the Regensburg Cathedral. Msgr. Georg Ratzinger died on July 1 at age 96.
During the Mass, the Regensburg bishop recalled the surprise June 18-22 visit Pope Benedict paid to the sickbed of his dying brother.
"This sign of humanity touched many people. So all the more do we share in your mourning," he said in words addressed to the retired pope.
The Vatican newspaper and KNA reported that alongside Bishop Voderholzer at the altar was Pope Benedict's private secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, and the pope's ambassador to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic. Among other participants were the former Regensburg bishop, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, and Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx.
The retired pope had written to his deceased brother a letter, which was read out loud at the ceremony by Archbishop Ganswein.
7/9/20 Correction: The letter was not to his brother, as reported on the news, even in Vatican News. The letter, published on the Regensburg diocesan website, is actually addressed to Bishop Voderholzer, thanking him and all who helped Georg Ratzinger in the last weeks of his life, as well as all those who sent their condolences to Benedict, andthen goes on to say what he most remembers about his brother's characteristics.I will post a full translation of the letter ASAP.
Remembering his "dear brother, Georg," Pope Benedict wrote, "May God reward you for everything you have done, have suffered and have given me."
The retired pope said his brother "received and understood his vocation to the priesthood as a musical vocation at the same time." He recalled his brother's "cheerfulness, his humor and his joy for the good gifts of creation." He also noted that his brother came to accept living with almost total blindness for 20 years.
Recalling his visit to Regensburg, the retired pope said he said "farewell" to his brother, knowing that "it would be a farewell from this world forever. But we also knew that God, who is good, who gave us this gift of being together in this world, also reigns in the other world, and there he will let us be reunited again."
Providing musical accompaniment for the funeral Mass were 16 former members of the "Domspatzen," the name of the Regensburg Cathedral's world-famous boys' choir that Msgr. Ratzinger directed from 1964 to 1994.
Bishop Voderholzer praised Msgr. Ratzinger's musical contribution and said it made clear how church music was not an "external ingredient" in a Christian church service. Music itself was " a medium of evangelization," he said.
Pope emeritus pens emotional letter
for brother's funeral service
July 8, 2020
The funeral of Mons. Georg Ratzinger, the brother of Pope emeritus Benedict XVI, was held on Wednesday at the Cathedral of Saint Peter in Regensburg, Germany.
Mons. Ratzinger died at the age of 96 on 1 July in Regensburg, the city where he lived the greater part of his life. His death came just over a week after the Pope emeritus made a visit in mid-June to Regensburg to be with his ailing brother.
Following his brother's death, Pope Francis sent a personal note of condolences to his predecessor, assuring the Pope emeritus of his prayers both for his brother and for Benedict himself.
During the funeral celebrated by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, Archbishop Georg Gänswein read an emotional letter written by Pope emeritus Benedict XVI for the occasion.
“At this hour when you offer my brother the final brotherly service and guide him on his final earthly path, I am with you,” the Pope emeritus assured in his letter.
Pope emeritus Benedict also said that people “from many countries, social and professional backgrounds” had written to him in a way that touched his heart.
Lamenting his inability to reply to each one of them personally, he nonetheless thanked them for accompanying him at this time. He also thanked all those who have been with his late brother “visibly and invisibly” during these past weeks.
“The echo of his life and work, which I have received in these days in the form of letters, telegrams and emails, goes far beyond what I could have imagined,” he wrote, adding that Cardinal Newman’s motto “
Cor ad cor loquitur" (Heart speaks to heart) has become true for him, as hearts speak to each other beyond words on paper.
Benedict XVI said three characteristics come up when recalling his brother.
The first – wrote the Pope emeritus – is that his brother “received and understood his vocation to the priesthood as a musical vocation at the same time.”
He recalled that already in the early years of his elder brother’s life in Bavaria, Georg took the personal initiative to train himself thoroughly in music. These studies eventually led him to become the Kapellmeister of Regensburg Cathedral and conductor of the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, a title which Georg would not have accepted, the Pope emeritus said, if their mother was still alive. The Pope emeritus recalled that their mother died around the same time as Kapellmeister Schrems, the predecessor of Georg Ratzinger, as Domkapellmeister of Regensburger Domspatzen.
He remarked that his service in Regensburg became “more and more of a joy” for his late brother, adding however that “hostility and rejection were not lacking, especially in the beginning.” At the same time, he noted that his brother became a father figure to the many young people who remained with him in the choir.
“My heartfelt thanks also go to all of them at this hour when I was allowed to experience again how he had become and always realized himself again as a priestly person, being a priest and musician,” he wrote.
The second characteristic about his brother that the Pope emeritus remembered is “his cheerfulness, his humor, and his joy for the good gifts of creation."
“At the same time, however," he wrote, “he was a man of direct speech as he expressed his convictions openly.”
He said that despite living in almost total blindness for more than 20 years, his brother “accepted” his situation and “overcame it inwardly.”
The Pope emeritus pointed out that “sobriety and honesty were the true center” of his late brother’s life, adding that “in the end, he was always a man of God.”
Recalling his last visit with his brother, the Pope emeritus said that, when he said “goodbye” to his brother on 22 June, he “knew it would be a farewell from this world forever.” Yet he expressed surety in the fact that “the good Lord, who has given us this union in this world, reigns in the other world and will give us a new union.”
“In the end, I would like to thank him for allowing me to be with him again in the last days of his life,” he wrote. “He did not ask me to visit him. But I felt it was time to go see him again. I am deeply grateful for this inner sign that the Lord has given me.”
In conclusion, Pope emeritus Benedict XVI thanked his brother. “Thank you, dear Georg, for all that you have done, suffered and given me.” He also thanked Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer for his assistance.
Leaving the Catedral after the funeral Mass, left, Mons. Gaenswein; right, Princess Gloria Thurn und Taxis, who lives in Regensburg, was a good friend to the Ratzinger brothers.
Mons Georg was laid to rest at the Lower Regensburg Catholic cemetery at the gravesite of the Regensburger Domspatzen Foundation.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 09/07/2020 21:10]