A few weeks ago, Pope Benedict gave his brother Fr. Georg Ratzinger, a Christmas gift – a private concert: (scroll down to last post)

A special gift indeed: a most private concert last January 4 presented by the Pope to brother Georg in the Sistine Chapel, no less, as a Christmas gift, if somewhat belated, when his older brother visited him for the New Year.

Singing for the honoree and his brother,the Pope, was the Sistine Chapel Choir, directed by Mons. Giuseppe Liberto, who has led them for 10 years.

It was him who recounted the story to the Italian news agency Apcom recently. "It had been the Pope’s wish to offer a concert for his brother. It was something very private and intense – an occasion of great emotion. The Pope always listens with such intuitive intelligence and offers original responses."

The program was nevertheless ad hoc, says Liberto. "We performed Palestrina, Bartolucci [the legendary former choir master] and many others, and then I offered the Pope my own gift – a motet for six voices written for a text from St. Augustine. And he told me, ‘Tonight, St. Augustine will be very happy to hear this motet.’"

Liberto recalls: "After the first part of the concert, I approached the Pope and said: ‘Tonight, I am realizing a dream. Holiness, from the heart of your chapel, we sing our hearts out to the Lord.’ Then I presented him the motet, which I told him had been performed the first time in Pavia, at St. Peter’s in Ciel d’Oro [where Augustine’s tomb is], which the Pope is visiting in April."