Georg Gänswein was Pope Benedict’s private secretary and has been waiting for a new job since his death. His future seems sealed after “several weeks back and forth” – by Pope Francis himself.
According to the daily newspaper “Welt”, the longtime private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, Georg Gänswein, will return to his home diocese of Freiburg – and without office. Pope Francis has ordered the 66-year-old to leave Rome by July 1, the newspaper reports on Friday. According to dpa information, talks are ongoing about the change, but have not yet been finalized.
“Weeks back and forth”
The decision to do so was taken in May during an official private audience, Welt reports, citing several senior church sources. The decision is said to have been preceded by “a back and forth of several weeks”. Gänswein is said to have proposed several tasks.
Francis, on the other hand, thought about becoming a professor of theology. A spokesperson for the Archdiocese of Freiburg said when asked that the diocese’s leadership could not comment on the report.
The Argentinian newspaper “La Nación” reported in April that Francis is said to have reminded Gänswein that it is customary for popes’ private secretaries to return to their dioceses – such as Stanislaw Dziwisz, who returned to Cracow after the death of John Paul II.
Since the death of Benedict XVI. On New Year’s Eve 2022, Gänswein had been waiting for Pope Francis to assign him a new task. He received it three times for an official private audience. There was speculation about a possible transfer to Costa Rica as Vatican ambassador or that Gänswein could become Archbishop of Bamberg. The diocese is vacant after the resignation of Ludwig Schick.
Gänswein moved into a new apartment
Recently, Gänswein had moved from the “Mater ecclesiae” convent, where he had previously lived with the Pope Emeritus. “When I fly back to Rome tonight, I will spend the first time in my new apartment,” Gänswein told dpa in March. “In consultation with Pope Francis, I received this a few years ago, but at first nothing happened because of Corona. Gradually she was prepared. Now I can move in. There are still a few things in the monastery, I will get them. But there are only a few small things left.”
Gänswein recently caused a stir in the Curia with the publication of a book entitled “Nothing but the Truth” about his time with Benedict. In it he reports his disappointment at his suspension by Francis as prefect of the papal house in 2020. He also published the contents of some of the pope’s private letters.
It was not until mid-May that Gänswein led a service in Freiburg Cathedral. He is an honorary canon. He also studied theology in Freiburg and was ordained a priest in May 1984.
Source: Krone
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