A series of allegations in Germany and Holland have plunged the Catholic Church into a renewed crisis over how it has dealt with child abuse after it emerged that the Pope's brother ran a renowned choir at the centre of some of the latest claims. 
 
 Reports of systematic historical abuse by clergy have surfaced at three schools in the Regensburg diocese in Bavaria. One of them is the much-heralded Regensburger Domspatzen, a thousand-year-old male choir and boarding school, whose choral master for 30 years was the Pope's older brother, Georg Ratzinger. 
 
 Monsignor Ratzinger has agreed to testify in any eventual prosecutions – but says that he knew of no abuse. And last night the German Justice Minister, Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, joined a growing chorus of politicians in Berlin to criticise the church over its attitude to the investigation, accusing Catholic institutions of a policy of secrecy. 
 
 "In many schools there was a wall of silence allowing for abuse and violence," said Ms Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger, a prominent critic of the church. She pointed to a Vatican directive from 2001 which required that even the most damaging allegations should be first investigated internally and then reported to the authorities. A church spokesman called her criticisms "absurd". 
 
 A separate sex scandal has also enveloped the Catholic Church in the Netherlands after three people said they were abused at a boarding school run by priests in the 1960s. Since the allegations were published on Friday more than 200 people have come forward to a designated helpline claiming that they were also abused by monks and priests. 
 
 The new allegations are a source of major embarrassment to the Vatican, which had been hoping to draw a line under child abuse. Over the past decade the issue has enormously damaged the church's reputation and finances. 
 
 The allegations in Germany first surfaced last month when investigators began looking into a series of Jesuit schools, but the scandal broadened out over the weekend into the heart of deeply Catholic Bavaria. The allegations coming out of the Regensburg diocese are particularly awkward because the Pope and his brother spent much of their careers in senior positions there, which will inevitably raise questions as to whether they ever encountered or heard about clergy who sexually abused minors. 
 
 Throughout the 1970s Joseph Ratzinger taught theology at the University of Regensburg. His older brother Georg took over the Regensburger Domspatzen in 1964 and, over the next 30 years, helped turn the male-only choir into one of the best in the world. 
 
 But he says that he never heard of any abuse in his time with the choir. Asked by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica whether he would talk to German officials, the 86-year-old Mgr Ratzinger replied: "Obviously I'd be ready to do so, but I am not able to provide any information on any deed that could be punished, because I don't have any – I never knew anything about it." 
 
 Any abuse at the Regensburger Domspatzen, he said, occurred before he took over. He did admit that pupils at the school were subjected to a climate of "discipline and rigour" but added that this was necessary in order to reach "a high musical, artistic level". 
 
 But Franz Wittenbrink, a German composer who lived at the school until 1967, described the school as being run by "a sophisticated system of sadistic punishments in connection with sexual lust". He was also quoted by Der Spiegel as saying that it was "inexplicable" that the Pope's brother knew nothing of what was happening. 
 
 The new sex scandals have emerged just weeks after Pope Benedict XVI gave Ireland's bishops a public dressing down for failing to deal with child abuse which he described as a "heinous crime". He also called on Catholic bishops to tackle allegations with "honesty and courage". But, while the Vatican has given its backing to a full investigation of the allegations, the Pope has so far remained personally silent on the matter. 
 
 We Are Church, a prominent Christian support network for abuse victims, has now called on the Pope publicly to declare whether he knew of any abuse allegations when he was a bishop. 
 
 "He must answer the question about what he knew and what he did about it," said Christian Weisner, the group's German spokesperson. ||||| Former choirboys of the Regensburger Domspatzen have told SPIEGEL about sexual and physical abuse at two boarding schools attached to the famous Catholic choir. One former choirboy says it's "inexplicable" that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, a former head of the choir, didn't know about it. 
 
 The abuse scandal at the Regensburger Domspatzen choir is bigger than had been thought so far. Therapists in and around Munich treated several former choirboys who were traumatized by sexual and other physical abuse. 
 
 One man affected told SPIEGEL about cruel rituals in the Etterzhausen boarding school, a preparatory school for younger pupils from which the choir draws its recruits. 
 
 He said that at the end of the 1950s the headmaster of the school, a Catholic priest, had dealt out hard physical punishments. He had often practiced what was called "naked beatings" in his private rooms, where boys aged eight or nine had to undress and were beaten by hand. In some cases, the victim said, penetration took place. 
 
 'Sexual Lust' 
 
 The director and composer Franz Wittenbrink, who lived in the Regensburg boarding school of the choir until 1967, said the school had an "elaborate system of sadistic punishments combined with sexual lust." 
 
 He said the headmaster at the time "would choose two or three of us boys in the dormitories in the evenings and take them to his flat." He said there had been red wine, and that the priest had masturbated with the pupils. "Everyone knew about it," said Wittenbrink. "I find it inexplicable that the Pope's brother Georg Ratzinger, who had been cathedral bandmaster since 1964, apparently knew nothing about it." 
 
 One fellow pupil had committed suicide shortly before taking his high-school exams, Wittenbrink said. Despite many indications, the Regensburg Diocese did not make abuse cases public until contacted by SPIEGEL last Thursday. Now the chair has pledged to investigate everything rigorously and to present an interim report at the end of March. 
 
 The allegations against former teachers are the latest to come to light in a scandal over sexual abuse at Catholic schools in Germany. 
 
 Pope's Brother Says Knew Nothing 
 
 Georg Ratzinger, the brother of Pope Benedict XVI, told an Italian newspaper he was willing to testify in the sex scandal but knows nothing about the alleged abuse of boys in the Regensburg choir. 
 
 In an interview published Sunday, Ratzinger was quoted as saying by the Rome daily La Repubblica that there was "discipline and rigor" but no terror during his 30 years as head of the Regensburg choir from 1964 until 1994. 
 
 The pope's brother also said the abuse accusations also reflected "a certain animosity toward the church." 
 
 The Vatican had said on Saturday that two cases of sexual abuse linked to the Regensburg choir did not coincide with the 30-year period it was led by Georg Ratzinger. 
 
 'Great Deal of Anger' 
 
 The Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano printed a statement on Saturday by the Bishop of Regensburg, Gerhard Ludwig Müller, saying that one case of abuse by the deputy director of a primary school linked to the choir was detected in 1958. 
 
 In addition, the paper called for action to be taken against those responsible. Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told the paper that perpetrators need to be brought to court and victims compensated for their suffering. 
 
 He said he has followed the ever growing scandal in Germany with "deep disappointment, pain and a great deal of anger." There is "no justification, no tolerance," he continued. At issue is a "despicable crime that must be pursued with absolute resolve."
– Pope Benedict's older brother has been linked to a sex abuse scandal rocking the Catholic Church in Germany. Allegations of abuse at a boarding school whose choir Georg Ratzinger ran for 30 years have surfaced, although he has denied any knowledge of abuse and has agreed to testify in any prosecutions, the Independent reports. Ratzinger, 86, says that the cases of abuse being investigated date to before he took command of the famous Regensburger boys' choir in 1964. German composer Franz Wittenbrink, however, who was a student at the boarding school until 1967, told Der Speigel that the priest-run school had "an elaborate system of sadistic punishments combined with sexual lust," during his time there. Wittenbrink says it is "inexplicable" that Ratzinger knew nothing of what was happening.