He was too weak to travel to Regensburg again and yet Benedict XVI. participated in his late brother's requiem.
The emeritus Pope Benedict XVI. (93) was too weak to be present even at the requiem of his late brother Georg Ratzinger (1924-2020) in Regensburg Cathedral on Wednesday (July 8) and to travel from his domicile in Italy beforehand. Nevertheless, the retired head of the church was virtually on site. As the Regensburg Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer (60) said during the ceremony, Benedict XVI. via live stream on the Internet and followed the funeral service there.
However, his personally present private secretary Georg Gänswein (63) read a letter he had written on the occasion of his brother's death. In it he thanked him for being "with him again in the last days of his life" and alluded to his visit to Regensburg at the end of June when he was able to say goodbye personally to his dying brother. The letter ended with "God bless you, dear Georg", which brought tears to the reading goose wine.