Georg Ratzinger (politician)

Georg Ratzinger ( pseudonyms: Robert Waldhausen, Gottfried Wolf, born April 3, 1844 in Rickenbach ring, today part of winemakers, † December 3, 1899 in Munich) was a Bavarian Roman Catholic clergyman, social reformer, journalist and politician of the Bavarian Patriot Party or the Bavarian farmers' Federation.

Life and work

Ratzinger attended high school in Passau (today's high school Leopoldinum ) from 1855 to 1863, studied Catholic theology in Munich from 1863 to 1867 and was ordained a priest in 1867. In 1868 he received his doctorate in theology with a thesis on the "History of the Church's care for the poor ", which was awarded as a prize question processing in Munich.

The social critic Georg Ratzinger was - after a short stint for his former teacher Ignaz von Dollinger - in addition to his pastoral work as a parish priest also worked as a journalist and politician. He was from 1869 to 1870 Cooperator in Berchtesgaden, from 1870 to 1871 in Würzburg editor of the magazine " Franconian folk sheet", then again from 1872 to 1874 chaplain in Landshut, then to 1876 in Munich editor of the magazine " Friend of the People ", 1883-1884 chaplain of the Duke Carl Theodor in ( Tegernsee ), 1884-1888 clergyman in Günzelhofen, then in Helfenberg at Mühldorf. He turned more and more to his work as publizierender scientists to, after the abandonment of my ministry even a short time in Vienna, then in Munich.

For the Bavarian Patriot Party, he was from 1875 to 1877 member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bavarian State Parliament for the constituency Tölz, 1877-1878 member of the Reichstag for the electoral district of Rosenheim. 1893 and 1899 he was elected for the constituency of rain as a member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Bavarian Parliament, first as an independent deputy, then as a member of the Bavarian Farmers' Federation, from 1894 again as an independent Member of Parliament. As such, he was between 1898 and his death again a member of parliament for the constituency of Deggendorf.

He described himself as an " enemy of the Empire " and " clerical- social". The militaristic great-power ambitions of Prussia he refused. He was of the opinion that militarism mainly weighed on the shoulders of the tax-paying workers and peasants, and serve the monopoly pursuit of big capital. Looking ahead, he realized in 1895 that the militarist tendencies will lead to a world war. A avert this fate he expected only from the transformation of the state in accordance with the principles of Catholic social teaching.

One of his most important writings was a study entitled " The national economy in their moral foundations. Ethical- sociale studies on culture and civilization. " To prevent the profits of middlemen, he sat down for the" partnership "of" labor and capital " and called for co-operative organizations in crafts and agriculture.

Georg Ratzinger, but also both of the following pseudonym published anti-Semitic diatribes are attributed. It is true that Ratzinger's identity with their two Verfasserpseudonymen not be proven from written records, but does apply to the research on the basis of circumstantial evidence as secured and will not be questioned. Under the pseudonym " Dr. Robert Waldhausen "was released in 1892, the book Jewish labor. Sketches from the social life of the present, in its introduction it states, for example, the emancipation of the Jews [ ... ] could not help but come across as destructive and subversive to the whole Christian society. And 1897 under the pseudonym " Dr. Gottfried Wolf " an anti-Semitic pamphlet entitled The Jews in Bavaria. Sketches from the past and proposals for the future published. In other, non- pseudonymous writings published Ratzinger, for example, in the national economy in their moral foundations, and in his parliamentary speeches can be anti-Semitic remarks and trends found.

Ratzinger died on 3 December 1899 at the Munich hospital 'Rechts der Isar after repeated operations on a stomach ailment.

Georg Ratzinger is a great uncle of retired Pope Benedict XVI. and the Roman Catholic priest and church musician Georg Ratzinger.