Despite the tensions of the last few months Pope Francis decided, Archbishop George Gänswein private secretary of Benedict XVI.to the apostolic The messenger to appoint.
After the “exile” without order in Freiburg Gänswein is to receive the prestigious post of ambassador to the Holy See, writes the Argentine daily newspaper The nation in an article by the journalist Elisabetta Piquéa biographer of the pope, on Friday.
Lack of understanding and outrage in the Vatican
It has not yet been decided where exactly Gänswein will move as nuncio. The pope’s decision was a gesture of “mercy” to end a controversy that ultimately became “embarrassing” for everyone, the paper reported.
The relationship between Francis and Gänswein has been strained for many years because after his resignation, Benedict often spoke out on church policy issues and criticized his successor’s course. Observers suspected Gänswein’s influence behind this, which he rejected.
The fact that the German published a book about Benedict shortly after Benedict’s death and aggressively promoted it caused a lack of understanding and outrage in the Vatican. “Nothing but the truth” is the title of the work.
“Lack of humanity”
Gänswein was private secretary and confidant of the German Pope Benedict VXI for many years. and looked after the pontiff emeritus until his death in 2022. The German was given permanent leave of absence as prefect by Pope Francis in 2020. He no longer had an official role in the Vatican.
In the book published at the beginning of April in interview form El Sucesor (The Successor), in which the Pope is told by the Spanish journalist Javier Martínez-Brocal When interviewed, Francis accused Gänswein of a “lack of humanity” and accused him of “using” the German Pope and spreading untruths.
“This is very sad,” said the leader of 1.4 billion Catholics worldwide. “But it hurt me that Benedict was used. The book was published on the day of the funeral, which I found to be a lack of nobility and humanity.”
