January 13, 2012. (Romereports.com) He is the only close relative of Benedict XVI, Georg Ratzinger is the pope's only brother. He is three years older and turns 88 on January 15. Aside from being brothers, the two are also close friends. It was Georg who passed on his passion for music, to his younger brother. Both studied together at the seminary and were ordained in the same ceremony.


Both of their lives changed forever on April 19, 2005, when Joseph was elected as pope. In this interview his brother remembers the first time they spoke after the white smoke was seen by the world.

Georg Ratzinger
April 7, 2008
“I no longer went to answer the phone because it rang and rang and always there were journalists on the other end, asking the same questions a hundred times and so I left it alone and thought "Nuts to you!", as we say in Bavaria. But Frau Heidl went to answer and suddenly she recognized that at the other end of the line there was the Holy Father, so she was rather excited, delighted and surprised. When I finally talked to him, there was nothing different about him, our fraternal relationship has not really changed. It was just my brother, and we spoke as we always have.”

They usually see each other during the summer, Easter and Christmas, when Georg visits his brother in Rome. This year, they also plan to celebrate his birthday together, doing what they love most: listening to classical music.

JMB/AE
RR
HC
-PR