Msgr. Georg Ratzinger celebrated his 90th birthday on Wednesday with his brother, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, at the former pope’s Mater Ecclesiae residence in the Vatican.
The high point was Mass in the residence chapel, followed by a Bavarian breakfast and an afternoon concert, according to the German language website Kathnet.
The concert was organised in honour of Msgr. Ratzinger, a former director of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir, by the historian and author Michael Hesemann and the singer Wolfgang Noeth. It took place in the recording studios of Vatican Radio.
Among those present were Cardinal-designate Gerhard Ludwig Müller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, who is also a former bishop of Regensburg; Archbishop George Gänswein, private secretary to Benedict XVI; and Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi.
Benedict XVI looked “healthy and relaxed”, according to those present.
Msgr. Ratzinger had already spent the Christmas holidays with his brother in the Mater Ecclesiae retirement home. Due to a dizzy spell, he spent a few days at the Gemelli hospital as a precaution, but was soon released.