REGENSBURG, Germany — Retired Pope Benedict XVI followed the funeral of his brother, Georg Ratzinger, via live streaming, reported the German Catholic news agency KNA.

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg said Pope Benedict, 93, was connected to the Mass taking place for his older brother July 8 in the Regensburg Cathedral. Msgr. Georg Ratzinger died on July 1 at age 96.

During the Mass, the Regensburg bishop recalled the surprise June 18-22 visit Benedict paid to the sickbed of his dying brother.

Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer of Regensburg, Germany, swings the censer over the casket of Msgr. Georg Ratzinger brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI outside the Regensburg cathedral July 8, 2020. (Credit: Andreas Gebert/Reuters via CNS.)
Cardinal Reinhard Marx of Munich and Freising, Germany, and another prelate arrive at the Regensburg cathedral July 8, 2020, for the funeral Mass of Msgr. Georg Ratzinger brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI. (Credit: Andreas Gebert/Reuters via CNS.)

“This sign of humanity touched many people. So all the more do we share in your mourning,” he said in words addressed to the retired pope.

KNA reported that alongside Voderholzer at the altar was Benedict’s private secretary, Archbishop Georg Ganswein, and the papal ambassador to Germany, Archbishop Nikola Eterovic. Among other participants were the former Regensburg bishop, Cardinal Gerhard Muller, and Munich Cardinal Reinhard Marx.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI, into the Regensburg cathedral for Msgr. Ratzinger’s funeral Mass July 8, 2020. (Credit: Andreas Gebert/Reuters via CNS.)
A prelate prays over the casket of Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI, during his funeral Mass at the cathedral in Regensburg , Germany, July 8, 2020. (Credit: CNS photo/Uwe Moosburger, Bistum Regensburg via Reuters.)

Providing musical accompaniment for the funeral Mass were 16 former members of the “Domspatzen,” the name of the Regensburg Cathedral’s world-famous boys’ choir that Msgr. Ratzinger directed from 1964 to 1994.

Voderholzer praised Ratzinger’s musical contribution and said it made clear how church music was not an “external ingredient” in a Christian church service. Music itself was ” a medium of evangelization,” he said.

Pallbearers carry the casket of Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, brother of retired Pope Benedict XVI, into the Regensburg cathedral for Msgr. Ratzinger’s funeral Mass July 8, 2020. (Credit: CNS photo/Uwe Moosburger, Bistum Regensburg via Reuters.)