Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein with the Pope AP Photo/Andrew Medichini
new boss

Benedict's closest confidant to hold dual role under new pope

Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, the pope’s personal secretary, will keep his old job but will also oversee the new pope’s household.

POPE BENEDICT XVI’s closest confidant Georg Gaenswein will continue to be the soon-to-be former pope’s secretary while also overseeing the new pope’s household, the Vatican has said.

“He will remain prefect of the papal household and will also be secretary to Benedict,” Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said at a press briefing.

“He has informed us he will take up residence with Benedict” in a monastery within the Vatican walls that is currently being renovated, Lombardi said.

Monsignor Gaenswein will therefore hold a dual role as part of an unprecedented situation in the history of the Catholic Church in which a pope and his predecessor will live within a stone’s throw of each other.

The Vatican has hinted that Benedict could continue to have a behind-the-scenes spiritual role as guide for his successor. The 85-year-old pope himself has said he will live “hidden from the world”.

Lombardi said Benedict’s four housekeepers – pious lay women known as “Memores Domini” – would also continue to work for the ex-pope in his new residence, a picturesque spot in Vatican City surrounded by flower beds.

Benedict promoted Gaenswein to prefect of the papal household in December – a move interpreted now as a key part of his plans to resign.

Background

Like the pope, Gaenswein is German and has an academic background, with a doctorate in canon law. The son of a blacksmith, he was ordained in 1984 and rose through the ranks to become Joseph Ratzinger’s secretary in 2003.

When Ratzinger was elected to the papacy in 2005, he kept the trusted Gaenswein by his side, propelling him into the limelight, much to the delight of the international media, instantly smitten by the pope’s dashing assistant.

A refreshing change from the elderly dignitaries populating the often staid world of the Vatican, the 56-year-old, who can be seen constantly at the pope’s side, has a pilot’s licence, skis in his spare time and is a Pink Floyd fan.

Gaenswein also played a pivotal role in the investigation that identified the pope’s butler, Paolo Gabriele, as the source of a series of damaging leaks of confidential papal documents that rocked the Vatican last year.

Gaenswein testified at Gabriele’s trial, an unprecedented court case in modern Church history where it emerged that he had suspicions on the butler’s guilt all along in a scandal that has come to be known as “Vatileaks”.

The scandal has been seen by many observers as one of many factors that helped Benedict come to the conclusion that he should step down.

The pope was said to be personally shaken by the betrayal of his butler.

- © AFP, 2013

Read: 9 reasons why Pope John Paul II was the best pope >

Read: ‘I resigned for the good of the church’ – Pope Benedict >

Your Voice
Readers Comments
19
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.