SAY A PRAYER FOR THE BROTHERS RATZINGER...
The Ratzinger brothers in the garden of the pope's former home in Pentling, in 2010, on the occasion of Benedict XVI's visit to Bavaria.
Emeritus Pope visits
seriously ill brother
in Regensburg
by Christa Pongratz-Lippitt
June 18, 2020
Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has left the Vatican for the first time since he resigned in order to visit his seriously ill brother in Regensburg.
Benedict XVI, 93, who stood down in 2013, decided to visit his brother Georg, 96, in Bavaria at short notice after consulting with Pope Francis.
Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni told the German press agency dpa that the emeritus Pope had left the Vatican by plane this morning on a purely private visit. He stay in Regensburg “as long as necessary”.
Benedict is accompanied by his private secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, his doctor, his carer and a religious sister.
The emeritus Pope landed at Munich airport where he was welcomed by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg who accompanied him on to Regensburg by car, Clemens Neck, spokesman of the Regensburg diocese told KNA. He is staying at the Regensburg seminary. He visited his brother straight away this afternoon.
“It is with great joy and respect that I welcome emeritus Pope Benedict,” the president of the German bishops’ conference, Bishop Georg Bätzing, declared in Bonn. He was praying for Benedict and his brother, he said.
The diocese of Regensburg has appealed to the public to understand that this deeply personal meeting was absolutely private. It was the heartfelt wish of the two brothers, both of whom were very advanced in years, to meet. “Those who want to express their sincere sympathy are invited to say a silent prayer for them.”
The two brothers Georg and Joseph Ratzinger entered the seminary in Munich together in 1946. They were ordained together in 1951. They remained close all their lives and usually spent their holidays or at least part of them together. In recent years, Georg visited his brother in the Vatican several times a year.
The Vatican made the announcement 12 hours ago on Vatican News. There are no new updates so far from Regensburg.
Benedict XVI visits
his sick brother in Germany
by Alessandro de Carolis
June 18, 2020
Pope emeritus Benedict left the quiet of the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican for a visit to Germany to be close to his brother, Georg. He is 96 and in poor health.
The emeritus pontiff traveled Thursday morning accompanied by his personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein; his doctor and his nurse; a collaborator from the Memores Domini community; and the vice commander of the Vatican Gendarmerie.
A statement from the Diocese of Regensburg indicated that Benedict arrived in Munich at 11:45. He was greeted by Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer, who accompanied him to Regensberg, where he will reside at the diocesan seminary.
The statement from the diocese asked the faithful to respect the wishes of the two brothers, who requested that the "deeply personal meeting remain private." Hence no public appearances are anticipated.
According to Matteo Bruni, the Director of the Holy See Press Office, Benedict will remain in Germany for “as long as necessary."
Always very close, the two Ratzinger brothers, born three years apart, were ordained priests on the same day, 29 June 1951, in the Cathedral of Freising. The circumstances of life have taken them in different directions: Georg, a brilliant musician, and Joseph a noted theologian.
Their mutual bond has always remained firm, however, as evidenced by the numerous visits Fr Georg Ratzinger has made to the Vatican between 2005 and 2013, during the years of his brother's pontificate, and even after his resignation.
When, in 2008, the city of Castel Gandolfo offered honorary citizenship to his brother, Benedict XVI expressed himself with these words: "From the beginning of my life my brother has always been for me not only a companion, but also a trustworthy guide. For me he has been a point of orientation and of reference with the clarity and determination of his decisions."
The Pope’s remarks showed his great affection for his brother, when experiencing happier circumstances, made all the more poignant in this moment.
Brother Bugnolo has this post-scripts:
June 18, 2020:
POPE BENEDICT WILL REMAIN IN GERMANY FOR AN UNSPECIFIED LENGTH OF TIME!
WILL NOT RETURN TO VATICAN DURING ILLNESS OF BROTHER!
by Br. Alexis Bugnolo
The
Corriere della Sera, one of the leading Left wing newspapers of Milan, has confirmed the report, writing:
Ratzinger è accompagnato dal segretario particolare, l’arcivescovo Georg Gänswein, e da medico, un infermiere, una delle memores domini — le religiose laiche che ne hanno cura nel monastero vaticano Mater Ecclesiae — e dal vicecomandante della Gendarmeria vaticana.
In English:
Ratzinger is accompanied by his special secretary, Archbishop George Gänswein, and by a doctor, a nurse, one of the Memores Domini — lay religious women who have the care of him in the Vatican Monastery of Mater Ecclesiae — and by the vice-commandant of the Vatican Gendarmeria (Vatican Police).
This detail is ominous. Only prisoners travel with police escort. The Corriera della Sera adds that the Pope landed at 11:45 A.M. in the morning (UTC +2) and is staying at the Seminary of the Diocese of Regensburg as the guest of the Bishop, Rudolf Voderholzer.
Brother Bugnolo is needlessly alarmist. 'Police escort', or security detail, to be more precise in this case, is SOP for the most highly-placed ex-VIPs, as in ex-Presidents of the United States who retain Secret Service protection for the rest of their lives. The Vatican would have been guilty of serious oversight if it had not provided someone as security person for the Emeritus during his sojourn outside the Vatican. One would imagine that the City of Regensburg, too, will be looking after the security aspect of Benedict XVI's sojourn.
One always imagined that the only reason the Emeritus would leave Italy at all after his renunciation would have to do with his brother's health, who has been unable to visit him at the Vatican for more than a year now, if I am not mistaken. Let us pray this visit will end on a happy note.
Italian Air Force post on the flight that took Benedict XVI from Rome to Munich today. CIA stands for Ciampino, the Rome airport from which the flight took off, and MUC for Munich.
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 19/06/2020 05:05]