Pope can't cook, says brother

Vatican City, April 4 (IANS/AKI) The pope can't cook but knows how to wash dishes following dinner and practices addresses with a tape recorder, according to his older brother.

Before he became Pope Benedict XVI, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, kind of like the Church's head faith policeman. A few times a year he would return home to Regensburg in Germany where the brothers would bond at the cardinal's house over dinner prepared by nuns.

"Fortunately the nuns would put something in the fridge because neither of use cook well," said Georg Ratzinger, 88, in an interview with the La Repubblica newspaper. "After dinner he would wash the plates and I would dry."

Benedict, who turns 85 April 16, Tuesdays likes to use a tape recorder to practice the foreign words he uses to greet the thousands of pilgrims who arrive to Rome from around the world to attend his Wednesday address, said his brother, a priest, who is promoting a book dedicated to the pope.

The pontiff has his dinner "at 7:30", according to his brother.

"At 8:00 he watches the news. Then he takes a short walk in the gardens. He rarely watches TV. At the most he'll watch a movie if it's about the Vatican."

--IANS/AKI

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