The brother of Pope Benedict said in an interview on Tuesday he slapped pupils in the face at a German school where he led the choir, but had been unaware of the brutality of discipline there.
Rev. Georg Ratzinger, 86, made the comments to a German paper following charges of sexual and physical abuse in Catholic schools in the pope’s native Bavaria. Sexual abuse scandals have also rocked the church in the United States and Ireland.
“Pupils told me on concert trips about what went on. But it didn’t dawn on me from their stories that I should do something. I was not aware of the extent of these brutal methods,” Ratzinger told the Passauer Neue Presse.
Full story: Pope’s brother says slapped pupils at choir school
