Former private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, Georg Gänswein, is due to leave the Vatican after nearly three decades. By order of today’s Pope Francis, the 66-year-old German will return to his home diocese of Freiburg on July 1, as the Holy See in Rome announced on Thursday. However, the ex-pope’s former confidant, who died six months ago, will not initially receive a new important post.
The Holy See has now announced that Gänswein is not officially prefect of the papal household as of February 28. The archbishop has held this top-tier post next to the pontiff since late 2012. About three years ago, however, he was given a permanent license by Francis. Italian Leonardo Sapienza, who has already taken over Gänswein’s duties-such as organizing audiences and non-liturgical celebrations-is likely to succeed him.
Gänswein now has to vacate his official apartment next to St. Peter’s, which he recently moved to. The Archdiocese of Freiburg announced that its possible new assignments were reserved for “future considerations”. The move is scheduled for the first week of July. Thereafter, Gänswein will live in Freiburg, close to his birthplace in Riedern am Wald in the Black Forest.
Gänswein studied theology in Freiburg. There he was ordained a priest in 1984. With about 1.8 million Catholics, the archdiocese is one of the largest of Germany’s 27 dioceses. It is led by Archbishop Stephan Burger – who will now be faced with the unusual situation of having a second archbishop with him in the diocese. In Rome, Gänswein no longer had a future under Francis, which had been clear for months. In early June, the daily newspaper “Welt” reported on his return home.
The minister was called to the Vatican in 1995, where he joined the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith a year later in the Curia. Joseph Ratzinger was prefect there and made Gänswein his assistant in 2003. After the Bavarian cardinal was elected pope, Gänswein followed him to the Apostolic Palace and became private secretary. Following the instructions of his successor Francis, Gänswein nursed the pontiff emeritus until his death on New Year’s Eve 2022.
The relationship between today’s pope and Gänswein was tense for many years because Benedict XVI, after his resignation, frequently spoke out on church political issues and criticized his successor’s course. Observers suspected Gänswein’s influence behind this, which he dismissed. The fact that the German published a book on Benedict shortly after his death and aggressively promoted it caused misunderstanding and outrage in the Vatican.
In the book, he also cited private conversations with Francisco and expressed disappointment with some of the Argentine’s decisions. This, in turn, made his displeasure known with subtle comments. After Benedict’s funeral, Francis and Gänswein met for three official audiences. There was speculation about transfers to Costa Rica, for example, as nuncio – that is, ambassador to the Vatican – or as archbishop in Bamberg. However, these scenarios were considered unlikely. Gänswein himself initially did not comment on the transfer.