By Alexandra Moyen

ROSEDALE — On Wednesday, mourners held a funeral Mass in Regensburg, Germany, for Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s late older brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger, which the retired pope attended via livestream.

Msgr. Georg Ratzinger died on July 1, at age 96, from an unidentified illness. He is to be buried at the Bavarian city’s Lower Catholic Cemetery.

Georg Ratzinger was born on Jan. 15, 1924, in Pleiskirchen, Bavaria, and was the second of three children; he had an older sister, Maria, who died in 1991, and his brother, Joseph, was born in 1927.

During the service, a portrait of Msgr. Ratzinger was placed by the altar and his coffin. On top of his coffin was a Bible and a black biretta, traditionally worn by priests. While incense burned, Bishop Rudolf Voderholzer led participants in prayer and a choir of men sang in German and Latin.

In a message read by clergymen, Pope Emeritus Benedict thanked all who took care of his brother in his last moments and said his “heart was touched” by the many letters he received from believers around the world after his death.

Weeks before his death, Pope Benedict paid a visit to his younger brother as he lay on his deathbed. “I felt the hour had come to visit him one more time … I am deeply grateful that the Lord gave me this sign,” the pope emeritus said.