The late Pope Benedict’s longtime confidant may have fallen out of favor with Francis. At least since he came up with revelations in book form. Now Gänswein’s fate will soon be decided.
Georg Gänswein, the former private secretary of Benedict XVI, is expecting news about his future soon. Since the death of the emeritus pontiff on New Year’s Eve 2022, it has been unclear what will happen to his longtime confidante and what Pope Francis intends to do with him. “The Holy Father will tell me that in a few days,” announced the 66-year-old in an interview on Italian TV station Rai. Curia Archbishop Gänswein was Benedict’s assistant and closest collaborator for almost 20 years – before, during and after his pontificate from 2005 to 2013.
Actually, Gänswein has also been prefect of the papal household since 2013 and is therefore responsible, among other things, for the appointments of the incumbent pope. However, Francis put the churchman from the Black Forest on leave from the post at the beginning of 2020, which hit Gänswein hard. The relationship between the two has been strained ever since. After Benedict’s death, a book was published in which Gänswein wrote about his time with Benedict and partly related private conversations between himself and Francis. The pope then criticized “gossip” without specifically mentioning Gänswein.
The German now asserted that he didn’t want to start “any wars” with his book. He just wanted to show how things really happened. “I hope that Pope Francis will trust me. I hope that I have never given him a reason not to trust me anymore,” Gänswein said in an interview with well-known Italian journalist Bruno Vespa on the program “Cinque Minuti”. When asked if he was loyal to Francis, he replied, “Faithful and loyal.” Francis is “Pope of the Catholic Church and the successor of Peter” and he is loyal to him “like all his predecessors”.
It is considered impossible that Gänswein can again pursue his duties as prefect of the papal household. Francis may assign him a task in one of the many departments of the Curia. Recently there has also been speculation that Gänswein could be sent to a diocese somewhere in the world as an archbishop.
