Five cousins appear in the legacy of Joseph Ratzinger, Benedict XVI
.
And now they will have to say whether or not they accept this bequest which is essentially resolved in the liquid sums left in the personal account of the Pope Emeritus who died last December 31st.
This was revealed by his historical secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, who is also his executor.
"This was interesting for me - he said answering journalists' questions on the sidelines of a mass celebrated in the Roman church of Casal Bertone named after Cardinal Ratzinger - I thought he had two relatives, two cousins but they are five cousins. Now for the law , I must write to the cousins who are the closest relatives, and I must also say by law, do you accept the inheritance or do you not accept it?".
"These are not things that concern copyright - he clarified - everything that has to do with the books, what has to do with his intellectual work is all already clarified. With regard to these heirs, it would be if something remains on the account at the end this would be the end", he explained, "while personal things are almost all to give away".
Gaenswein celebrates in the Roman 'parish' of Ratzinger
- "In this church he felt at home, in the family, as the father of a beautiful, large and profitable family".
This was said by Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Joseph Ratzinger's historical secretary, as he celebrated today, on the feast of St. Joseph, a special mass in the parish of which Ratzinger was titular as cardinal in Casal Bertone.
It is Santa Maria Consolatrice, in the square of the same name, which was also the first parish visited by the new Pope Benedict XVI. "The parish has an emotional and historical bond with Pope Benedict - recalls the parish priest Don Luigi Lani -. which he was titular cardinal who, as Pope, has always maintained a relationship of affection, also through the numerous gifts he wanted to give us, and which will soon find space in a room that we will set up as a sort of museum dedicated to him".
Today Monsignor Gaenswein donates to the parish a cassock that belonged to Ratzinger, who died last December 31st.
In memory of him also a room set up as a museum in which photos are exhibited that recall the numerous occasions in which Cardinal Ratzinger went to Santa Maria Consolatrice, such as confirmations, processions, or the patronal feast.
Sometimes he used to go to this parish even just for dinner.
The nature of his visits to Santa Maria Consolatrice, Gaenswein also recalled in his homily, "was familiar", so much so that "at Christmas, for example, he would come and bring sweets from Bavaria".
During the mass, Monsignor Gaenswein, still awaiting an assignment from Pope Francis, also presided over the rite of dressing for some boys and girls, the first, after Covid, to take "
