Archbishop Georg Gänswein, once a significant figure in the Vatican, served alongside Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, who was later named Pope Benedict XVI, for almost three decades. When Pope Benedict XVI, a German, stepped down unexpectedly in 2013, Gänswein played a crucial role in liaising with his successor, Pope Francis, and carried on his duties as private secretary and caregiver until Pope Benedict’s passing in December 2022.
Gänswein’s Vatican days came to an abrupt end following the release of his memoir just a fortnight after Benedict’s January 2023 funeral. The memoir revealed alleged private discord between Pope Benedict and Pope Francis and resulted in Gänswein’s exile from Rome, where he was affectionately referred to as “Gorgeous George”. In March 2023, he was directed to return to his birthplace of Freiburg in southwest Germany, left without clear responsibilities.
18 months on, Gänswein, aged 68, has publicly sworn allegiance to the German Pope in the prominent tabloid, Bild, and has recently been assigned as the papal nuncio to the Baltic States, stationed in Lithuania.
“I have uttered the same pledge to the Pope as any bishop does at their ordination – of loyalty and deferity. I have stayed true to this pledge to Benedict and his successors alike on Peter’s throne. Whether I did this gladly, however, is another story,” Gänswein, who was named titular archbishop of Urbs Salvia in 2013, stated.
The year that’s passed has been the hardest period of his life, according to the German clergyman. His forced leave from Rome has left him with “extreme disappointment” and “hurtful scars”. He expressed feeling “helpless” and “immobilised” as the Vatican left him uncertain about his next steps.
His tone has evidently shifted since January 2023, where in his memoir, he characterised himself as being “humiliated” by Pope Francis’ decision to relieve him of his obligations within the Vatican household in 2020. Further revelations in his memoir included reported doctrinal conflicts. These disagreements supposedly arose from Pope Francis’ tougher stance on tradiational Latin laws that Pope Benedict had previously relaxed.
The contentious climax between Pope Francis and Archbishop Gänswein played out in 2020, over a book championing the conservative stance on priest celibacy. Fascinatingly, this book with a preface presumably penned by former Pope Benedict, hit the stands just as Pope Francis was entertaining the idea of relaxing the celibacy rules, in an attempt to tackle the scarcity of priests in the Amazon area.
Detractors felt that Archbishop Gänswein had abused his position with Benedict, and inadvertently or deliberately, affiliated him with conservative factions who were at odds with the path the Catholic church was pursuing under Francis.
In one of his interviews in April, Pope Francis alluded to a few challenging incidents, courtesy of Archbishop Gänswein, but avoided specifics. On a Sunday, Archbishop Gänswein, with careful ambiguity, stated that he had ‘certainly stumbled’, inclusive of instances involving Pope Francis himself. He assured he’s recognised and addressed such errors, insisting that his association with the head of the church was now amiable and sound. He belittled rumours about persisting friction as ‘a thing of the past’.
The Archbishop isn’t the solitary high-ranking German churchman currently in the spotlight. Cardinal Gerhard Müller is also amidst fresh allegations, subsequent to his position as the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith till 2017.
A Pillar portal report showcased details from an audit in 2015, which purportedly found that Müller officials were engaged in removing substantial cash piles packed in plastic bags. Vatican authorities further revealed large sums of money, belonging to the department’s funds, present in the account of the staunch cardinal. While Müller deemed the report to be a ‘regular plot’, he did not rebut the assertion that Pope Francis had demanded a refund of €200,000 for the department.