Pope's brother 'willing to testify'
Pope Benedict XVI's brother has agreed to talk to abuse investigation officers
The brother of Pope Benedict XVI has said he is willing to testify in the sex scandal rocking Germany's Catholic Church, even though he says he knows nothing about the alleged abuse of boys in a choir he later led.
The Rev Georg Ratzinger was also quoted by the Rome daily La Repubblica that there was "discipline and rigour" but no terror during his 30 years as head of the Regensburger Domspatzen choir in Germany.
The Regensburg Diocese said last week that a former singer came forward with allegations of sexual abuse in the early 1960s. The German newsweekly Der Spiegel has reported that therapists in the region are treating several alleged victims from the choir.
The diocese has said it is hiring a lawyer to help it carry out a "systematic" clarification of abuse allegations.
A man who lived in the choir-linked boarding school until 1967 has contended that "a sophisticated system of sadistic punishments in connection with sexual lust" had been installed there. Der Spiegel quoted the man, Franz Wittenbrink, as saying it would be inexplicable that the pope's brother didn't know anything about it.
But Ratzinger, who led the choir from 1964 till 1994, says he knew nothing about any alleged abuse.
If German justice officials "ask me to give testimony, obviously I'd be very ready to do so, but I am not able to provide any information on any deed that could be punished, because I don't have any, I never knew anything about it," the former choir leader told La Repubblica. "We're talking about another generation, of another generation than that of my years, and respect to the generation that leads the foundation and chorus now," the Pope's brother told the paper.
Asked why cases of alleged abuse were "covered by silence" for so long, Ratzinger replied: '"I insist, I wasn't around in that situation, I wasn't at the choir when the cases they're talking about happened."
"I hope my chorus isn't damaged by this situation, but it's in my interest that light is shed on it," he added.
Asked by La Repubblica about victims' claims of a "climate of terror at the choir," Ratzinger was quoted as saying: "In my years, thus after those deeds, there was a climate of discipline and rigour, that was obvious, too - we were aiming for a high musical, artistic level."
Press Association
