Archbishop Georg Gänswein was once one of the Vatican’s most influential clerics, at the side of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger – later Pope Benedict XVI – for nearly 30 years.
After the German pope’s surprise resignation in February 2013, Gänswein acted as go-between with his successor, Pope Francis, and stayed on as personal secretary and carer until Benedict’s death in December 2022.
Gänswein’s life in the Holy See ended abruptly when his memoir appeared two weeks after Benedict’s funeral in January 2023, making public alleged private tensions between Benedict and Francis.
Banished from Rome, where he carried the nickname “Gorgeous George”, Gänswein was ordered back to his home diocese of Freiburg in southwest Germany, with no concrete role, in March 2023.
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After 18 months in the wilderness, the 68-year-old has now made a public profession of loyalty to the pope in Germany’s Bild tabloid. He has now been appointed papal nuncio to the Baltic countries, based in Lithuania.
“Like any bishop who, on his consecration, professes the pope his loyalty and reverence, I have done the same,” said Gänswein, appointed titular archbishop of Urbs Salvia in 2013. “I did it then with Benedict and will with all his successors on the throne of Peter. I have kept this promise. Whether I did it willingly, though, is another matter.”
The German cleric described his last year as “the most difficult of my life” and said his forced departure from Rome had left him with “painful wounds” and “great disappointment”. Being left in limbo by the Holy See about his future role had left him feeling “insecure and paralysed, powerless”.
It was a change of tone from January 2023 when Archbishop Gänswein wrote in his memoir how Pope Francis had “humiliated” him by stripping him of his duties in the Vatican household in 2020.
Other headline-grabbing claims in the memoir alleged doctrinal disagreements, with Benedict supposedly unhappy with how Francis had tightened up again rules on the traditional Latin the German pope had loosened.
[ Benedict aide accuses Francis of humiliating him over celibacy rowOpens in new window ]
The final showdown between Pope Francis and Archbishop Gänswein came later in 2020 over another book taking a conservative line on priestly celibacy. It appeared – with a foreword apparently written by Benedict – just as Pope Francis was discussing looser celibacy rules as a possible solution to a priest shortage in the Amazon region.
Critics argued Archbishop Gänswein had overstepped his role with Benedict and, with or without the ailing former pope’s knowledge, allied him with conservative groups opposed to the direction of the Catholic church under his successor.
In an April interview Pope Francis said Archbishop Gänswein “did some very difficult things to me” but did not go into detail.
Archbishop Gänswein also kept things vague on Sunday when admitted he had “made mistakes, no question, including towards Pope Francis”.
“I have acknowledged these and dealt with them, the relationship between the head of the church and me is relaxed and healthy,” he said, dismissing reports of ongoing tensions as “yesterday’s news”.
The archbishop is not the only senior German cleric in the headlines, following fresh claims against Cardinal Gerhard Müller, the former prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith until 2017.
According to a report in the Pillar portal, detailing a 2015 audit, church inspectors found Müller officials attempting to remove several plastic bags containing large quantities of cash.
Vatican auditors also found large amounts of the departmental budget in the conservative cardinal’s personal bank account. He dismissed the report as “typical intrigue” but did not deny a claim that Pope Francis ordered him repay €200,000 to the department.
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