After months of rumors, indiscretions and gossip, it seems that Father Georg Gänswein’s future is definitely sealed. According to the German newspaper The world, the former private secretary of the late Pope Benedict XVI will in fact return to Germany by the end of June. The decision allegedly came directly from Pope Francis, who allegedly asked the former prefect of the Papal Household to return to his native diocese of Freiburg, in southwestern Germany, without having been entrusted with any new role or assignment. To add some details is the agency Well German, according to which the Pontiff informed Gänswein, now 66, during a private audience on 19 May. At the moment, neither Ratzinger’s former secretary nor the Vatican have issued any communication on the matter.
The first disagreements between Gänswein and Francis date back to the beginning of the year, shortly after the death of the Pontiff emeritus, when the bishop published the book Nothing but the truth. My life alongside Benedict XVI. In the volume, Gänswein reveals some background on the relationship between the two Popes, including an anecdote about the “no” to the Latin Mass that broke Ratzinger’s heart. After the publication of some excerpts of the book in the newspapers, the bishop and Pope Francis had a face-to-face meeting in the Vatican, in which Gänswein allegedly convinced himself that “now I must shut up”. The first rumors of a possible expulsion of Ratzinger’s former secretary from the Holy See arrived in March. According to the Spanish site Religion DigitalFrancis had intended to entrust Gänswein with the leadership of a diplomatic mission in Costa Rica.
Photo credits: ANSA/Riccardo Antimiani