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The Right Reverend Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, PA, (born January 15, 1924 in Pleiskirchen) is a German Catholic priest and musician, known for his work as the conductor of the Regensburger Domspatzen, the cathedral choir of Regensburg, Germany. He is the elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI. His grand uncle was German politician Georg Ratzinger.
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Early life and military service
Ratzinger was born in Bavaria to Joseph Ratzinger, Sr., a police officer. Early in his life he showed musical talent, playing the church organ already at the age of 11. In 1935 he entered the minor seminary in Traunstein and had professional musical instruction there. In 1941 he encountered for the first time the choir of the Regensburger Domspatzen, whose musical director he was to become later, when they performed in Salzburg on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Mozart's death.
In summer 1942 Georg Ratzinger was drafted to the Reichsarbeitsdienst, and the same autumn to the German Wehrmacht. In 1944 he was wounded in battle in Italy. At the end of World War II, he was a POW of the U.S. Army in the vicinity of Naples, but was released, and arrived at home in July 1945.
Education and ordination
In January 1946 he entered, together with his brother Joseph (later Pope Benedict XVI), the seminary of the archdiocese of Munich and Freising to study for the priesthood. At the same time he pursued his musical studies.
He was ordained priest, together with his brother, in 1951, by Michael Cardinal von Faulhaber and afterwards studied Church Music in Munich, while serving in different priestly functions for the diocese.
Domspatzen directorship
He completed his studies in 1957 and became chorus director in his home parish in Traunstein. In February 1964 he was made musical director, Domkapellmeister, at St. Peters Cathedral in Regensburg, thereby becoming the chorus master of the Cathedral Choir, the Regensburger Domspatzen.
As director of this world-renowned boys' and men's choir, Ratzinger oversaw the recording of numerous masterpieces (e.g. J. S. Bach: Christmas Oratorio, J.S. Bach: Motets, H. Schütz: Psalms of David), vibrant concert tours (among others to the U.S., Scandinavia, Canada, Taiwan, Japan, Ireland, Poland, Hungary, and the Vatican; and a tour of Germany every year), and the liturgical activities of the choir.
In 1976 the choir celebrated its 1,000th anniversary.
In 1977 Ratzinger conducted the Domspatzen at his brother Joseph's consecration as Archbishop of Munich and Freising. They sang in honor of Queen Elizabeth II at her state visit in 1978, and at Pope John Paul II's visit to Munich in 1980; they also gave a concert for the state guests at the NATO summit in 1982 under the auspices of then German president Karl Carstens.
Later life
Msgr. Ratzinger retired from his position as director of the choir in 1994 and has been a canon in Regensburg since 25 January 2009.
In 2005, during a visit to his brother in Rome, worrying symptoms of heart failure and arrhythmia led to a brief admission at the Agostino Gemelli University Polyclinic.
There is unsourced speculation that Pope Benedict XVI may name him a Cardinal, as he is past 80 years of age and thus would be ineligible to participate in a conclave. The most recent papal relative to be elevated to the cardinalate was Giuseppe Pecci, whose brother, Pope Leo XIII, named him in the consistory of 1879.
Honours
In 1967 he was named papal chaplain and in 1976 Papal honorary Prelate.
In 1981 Georg Ratzinger was awarded the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany. In 1994, he was named a Papal protonotary.
In 2005 he was awarded the Austrian Decoration of Honour for Science and Art, and in 2009 he was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic.
Msgr. Georg Ratzinger was made an honorary citizen of Castel Gandolfo in 2008.
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