This Wednesday, Pope Francis received Archbishop Georg Gänswein, private secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, who died on New Year's Eve 2022, in audience. The Vatican announced this after the meeting, without providing further details. Gänswein was sent to Germany by Francis after the death of Benedict XVI, with no specific task there. He was at the Vatican for the mass in memory of Benedict XVI.
Gänswein, sometimes also Prefect of the Pontifical Household in the Vatican, was appointed after the death of Pope Benedict XVI. he was sent by Pope Francis to the Archdiocese of Friborg. Benedict XVI died in the Vatican on the last day of 2022; he was 95 years old. Almost ten years earlier, after about eight years of pontificate, he resigned from the papacy. Archbishop Gänswein has been by his side all these years. On December 31, 2023, he celebrated a mass in memory of Benedict in St. Peter's Basilica. In his sermon, he thanked God “for the richness of the teaching, the depth of the theology and the brilliant example of this simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard”.
Pope Francis paid tribute to his predecessor in office on the first anniversary of his death, in the midday prayer, with the words: “A year ago, Pope Benedict XVI. completed his earthly journey, after a life full of love and wisdom in the service of the Church.” In the Angelus prayer on December 31, 2023, in Saint Peter's Square, he also emphasized: “We feel a lot of affection for him, a lot of gratitude, a lot of admiration. May he bless us and accompany us from heaven. A round of applause for Benedict XVI!”
(Vatican news – sst)