The Pope's Brother And The Sex Abuse Crisis

Now it's getting closer to home:

The pope's brother said in a newspaper interview published Tuesday that he slapped pupils as punishment after he took over a renowned German boys' choir in the 1960s. He also said he was aware of allegations of physical abuse at an elementary school linked to the choir but did nothing about it.

The Rev. Georg Ratzinger, 86, said he was completely unaware of allegations of sexual abuse at the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir, part of a string of charges of sex abuse by church employees across Europe in recent days.

Ratzinger led the Regensburger Domspatzen boys choir for thirty years. He says he knew nothing about the allegations of sex abuse, says they all occurred before his tenure in 1964, but admits he did slap boys in the face repeatedly as punishment.