After weeks of silence – apparently imposed by the Pope himself – Monsignor Georg Gänswein, Benedict XVI’s historical secretary, speaks up again and says in Bruno Vespa’s broadcast that Francis will tell him in a few days what his future goal will be . Whether he’ll stay in Rome with some job in the Curia, or be sent somewhere else.
During Ratzinger’s funeral, Father George had rocked the Church by publishing books that revealed a difficult relationship with Pope Francis. Gaenswein, chef de cuisine, is currently still Prefect of the Papal Household, although he has not held the post for three years, and awaits to know his fate. “The Holy Father will tell me in a few days,” he told Vespa, which dedicated to him the episode of “Cinque Minutì” that will be broadcast tonight on Rai Uno.
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“I hope Pope Francis trusts me, I hope I haven’t given him a reason to stop trusting me.” And when asked if he is faithful to Bergoglio, Don Georg repeats: “Faithful and faithful: he is the Pope of the Catholic Church and the successor of Peter, as I have been faithful to all his predecessors.” Then he defends his book “Nothing but the Truth” (written for Piemme with the journalist Saverio Gaeta), which has caused much controversy.
“My only goal was to clarify points where there were many problems. Clarity tells and gives the truth to all who wanted to know. No wars, no factions, I just wanted to give my testimony of the real things that happened.” At the time of the book’s publication, which fell in the days of Benedict XVI’s farewell, Gaenswein comments: “Any moment of publication would be been criticized.” The rest, like rumors of schism, is “the invention of journalists”.
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Pope Francis summoned Gaenswein on January 9, just after the days of Ratzinger’s funeral and just as the very book in which Benedict XVI’s secretary was coming out was coming out. lamented being removed from Bergoglio and being a “halved prefect”. A brief meeting at which the Pope is said to have asked Gänswein to withdraw from the public eye. Then, without quoting him directly, a few weeks ago, on the flight back from Africa, he said of him that those who attack him and for this reason “exploit Benedict are without ethics, they are party people, not the Church”.
“Some stories that are told — Pope Francis has told journalists — that Benedict was embittered by this or that are Chinese stories,” a Spanish-language proverb that refers to made-up things. And it was Msgr. Gänswein, who after the break with Pope Francis practically lives in limbo, without duties. But according to him, the knot will be untied in days. There is talk of a university assignment or a nunciature, obligations that would take him away from the Vatican, where Gänswein has lived for almost thirty years.
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on Il Mattino