CNS PHOTO | L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO VIA REUTERS Pope Benedict watches Bavarian dancers perform during a folk festival at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, Italy, Aug. 3.

With his 88-year-old brother sitting by his side, Pope Benedict was treated to an evening of Bavarian folk music and dancing, a clear expression, he said, of a “cheerful culture, imbued with joy.”

More than 1,000 pilgrims from Bavaria – the majority of them members of choirs, bands and dance troupes – joined the pope and his brother Aug. 3 in the courtyard of the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo.

The men wore lederhosen and women wore traditional dirndl.

The Bavarian folk festival was the result of a “musical pilgrimage” organized by the Archdiocese of Munich-Freising, Germany, in honour of the pope’s Bavarian roots.