Benedict XVI visits his ailing brother in Germany

June 18, 2020 CNA Daily News News Briefs 2 Print

CNA Staff, Jun 18, 2020 / 06:35 am (CNA).- Pope emeritus Benedict XVI is making a private visit to Germany to see his ailing brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger.

CNA Deutsch, CNA's German-language partner agency, said June 18 it had confirmed with sources close to the pope emeritus that Benedict XVI was visiting his 96-year-old brother in Regensburg.

It is believed to be Benedict XVI’s first trip outside Italy since he stood down as pope in 2013. 

CNA Deutsch reported that the private family visit was motivated by the state of Msgr. Ratzinger’s health. 

Benedict, 93, made the journey from Rome to his Bavarian homeland with his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

Georg Ratzinger is a former conductor of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir of Regensburg. 

On June 29, 2011, he celebrated his 60th anniversary as a priest in Rome together with his brother. Both were ordained priests in 1951.

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Half of Dutch bishops in late 20th century linked to abuse, report claims

September 17, 2018 CNA Daily News 0

Amsterdam, Netherlands, Sep 17, 2018 / 12:01 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- A report published Saturday by a Dutch daily claims that just over half of the Netherland’s bishops between 1945 and 2010 were either child abusers or allowed the transfer of abusive priests.

NRC Handelsblad said Sept. 15 that in that time, four bishops abused children, and 16 others “allowed the transfer of paedophile priests who could have caused new victims in other parishes.” There were in that time period 39 bishops in the country.

The Church in the Netherlands said that “bishops did not act with sufficient care” in transferring priests.

A Church spokeswoman told AFP that most of the clerics accused in the report are now dead, and that the statute of limitations has expired in all cases.

The report was based on a 2011 independent report commissioned by the Church in the Netherlands, as well as victims’ testimony to an inquiry commission, and research by NRC.

The independent report had said that as many as 20,000 minors were sexually abused at Catholic institutions in the country during the 45-year span, by about 800 clerics, religious, and laity.

The Dutch report comes on the heels of a similar report in Germany, and amid clerical sex abuse scandals in the US, Chile, Ireland, and Australia.

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