Pope Benedict XVI Siblings: Meet Georg Ratzinger, Maria Ratzinger

Pope Benedict XVI served as the leader of the Catholic Church and the ruler of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on February 28, 2013.

He was born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger in Germany on April 16, 1927, and died on December 31, 2022. Following the passing of Pope John Paul II in 2005, Benedict was chosen to serve as pope. When Benedict resigned, he opted to use the moniker “pope emeritus.”

Ordained as a priest in 1951, he was made a cardinal by Pope Paul VI in 1977. He was also Dean of the College of Cardinals from 1978 until his election as pope in 1998.

He started out as a liberal theologian but switched to conservatism after 1968. In addition, Benedict reintroduced a number of customs, giving the Tridentine Mass greater prominence.

The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI was announced on February 11, 2013. He attributed his advanced age to a “loss of the strength of mind and body.” He continued to dress in white, the papal color, and maintain the mannerisms of His Holiness the Emeritus Pope.

Benedict spoke German, his mother tongue, and a little bit of French, Italian, English, and Spanish. Additionally, he was conversant in Portuguese, Latin, Biblical Greek, and Hebrew. He belonged to various academies of social science, including the French Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques. He enjoyed playing the piano and listening to Mozart and Bach.

At 08:34 GMT on December 31, 2022, Benedict passed away at the Mater Ecclesiae monastery in the Vatican. He was 95.

Pope Benedict XVI Siblings: Meet Georg Ratzinger, Maria Ratzinger

His grand-uncle was the German priest-politician Georg Ratzinger. He was the third and youngest child of police officer Joseph Ratzinger Sr. and Maria Ratzinger.

Georg Ratzinger, the older brother of Benedict, was a Catholic priest and the former choirmaster of the Regensburger Domspatzen. Until her passing in 1991, his sister Maria Ratzinger, who never married, maintained her brother Joseph’s home.

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