By Nick Pisa
March 9, 2010
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1256655/Popes-brother-confesses-hitting-choirboys.html
 |
| Scandal: Father Georg Ratzinger admitted giving 'clips around the ear' to members of his choir |
Pope Benedict XVI's brother today sensationally admitted striking choir boys during his time as a teacher at a boarding school in Bavaria, southern Germany.
Retired Father Georg Ratzinger, 87, was choral master of the Regensburger Domspatzen for 30 years, a school which is now at the centre of a sex scandal that has rocked the Catholic Church in Germany.
The elder brother of the Pontiff made the dramatic confession after reports of abuse at the choir, as well as at several other German schools.
Today in an interview with German paper Passauer Neue Presse Father Georg said: 'I was happy with every choir practice but I have to admit sometimes I did get depressed because we didn't get the right results.
'At the very beginning I would often give clips around the ear even though my conscience was later troubled for doing so.'
Father Georg added that he had never severely beaten boys nor left them with bruises or other injuries and went on to say that he had heard of the other incidents of abuse from the boys - contrary to claims he had made earlier in the week.
 |
| No comment: The Pope in Rome yesterday |
He said: 'The boys would tell me what happened at the school and I knew that the rector there was violent and would beat the boys hard and that he would do it for no reason. I was happy when in 1980 corporal punishment was banned.'
Father Georg went on to say that such activity is condemned much more these days 'because people have become more sensitive. I too do that. At the same time, I ask the victims for forgiveness.'
His admission is bound to rock the Vatican which has been engulfed in a recent abuse scandal involving Irish Catholic Bishops.
Pope Benedict himself said he intended to deal harshly with culprits of what he described as a 'heinous crime.'
The Vatican has said that it will launch a full investigation but the Pope himself has remained silent. Today, despite his brother's revelations, there was no comment from the Pontiff's official spokesman.
Earlier this week in an interview with Italian newspaper La Repubblica Father Georg said he would be willing to testify in the sex scandal even though he knew nothing about the alleged abuse of boys in a choir he later led.
The Regensburg Diocese said last week that a former singer came forward with allegations of sexual abuse in the early 1960s. Father Georg led the led the choir from 1964 till 1994.
 |
| Brother's support: Pope Benedict XVI, right, visits his older brother Georg after surgery to fit a pacemaker in 2005 |
Passauer Neue Presse is a conservative Catholic newspaper based in Bavaria and close to the Roman Catholic Church in Germany.
Today Germany's respected news weekly Der Spiegel carried interviews with former choirboys who said they found it 'inexplicable' that the Pope's brother did not know about the abuse.
The director and composer Franz Wittenbrink, who lived in the Regensburg boarding school of the choir until 1967, told the magazine the school had an 'elaborate system of sadistic punishments combined with sexual lust.'
He said the headmaster at the time 'would choose two or three of us boys in the dormitories in the evenings and take them to his flat.'
He said there had been red wine, and that the priest had masturbated with the pupils.
Mr Wittenbrink said:'Everyone knew about it. I find it inexplicable that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, who had been cathedral bandmaster since 1964, apparently knew nothing about it.'
 |
| Mirror image: Georg and Pope Benedict, right, in Freising, Bavaria, during their ordination in 1951 |
Later in an interview on Vatican Radio Father Lombardi was again asked about the abuse claims rocking Germany and said: 'The Catholic Church has acted swiftly and decisively on these matters in Germany and elsewhere.
'The Church is not the only place where there are these accusations, it occurs elsewhere and here it should also be of concern, to focus solely on the Church is taking it out of prospective.
'For example recently in Austria a survey showed that there were only 17 cases of abuse involving Church institutions whereas in other establishments there were 510.'
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.