At the beginning of the year, criticism of Gänsewein, Pope's intimate friend of the late Pope Benedict, was raised.
The reason was his book, an obituary for Benedict.
Munich – After the death of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI.
statements by his private secretary Georg Gänswein at the beginning of the year caused great unrest in the Catholic Church.
The cleric was suddenly caught in the crossfire of criticism.
At the time, Gänswein revealed that Benedict was not happy with the decisions made by his successor.
This statement drew a wave of criticism from senior church officials.
Gänswein's book "Not as the Truth", which was published a few days ago, not only caused criticism even before it was published and accused the Archbishop of the Vatican of wanting to take advantage of the media momentum surrounding the death of the Pope for the book.
The publication of his book shortly after Benedikt's death "completely surprised, even shook" Gänswein himself, he explained to the
German Press Agency
in an interview.
He was ashamed that this impression had to be created.
According to the clergyman, however, he was not allowed to have a say in the publication.
According to his own statement, Gänswein originally thought of a publication with some time lag.
"But the train had already left." When presenting his book, it was also important to him to prevent a certain narrative from the posthumous assessment of Benedict or to bring his own voice into it.
The title "Nothing but the truth" does not come from anywhere, says Gänswein.
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Georg Gänswein received a lot of criticism with the publication of his book.
© IMAGO/Italy Photo Press
Gänswein wanted to refute criticism and distorted images of Pope Benedict
"The goal of my book, the intention is to simply portray Benedict as he was." That's why he chose the title for his book, "because there are a whole series of distorted images about Pope Benedict, especially in his homeland".
Through the book, Gänswein wanted to show that these stereotypes were one-sided and largely unfounded.
Gänswein feared that after Benedict's death these stereotypes would only become more entrenched.
"I wanted to raise my voice against this and make my point of view known." He owed it to the reputation and memory of Pope Benedict, according to Gänswein.
However, criticism of Gänswein's reports about differences of opinion between Pope Francis and Pope Benedict also comes from the Vatican.
Pope Francis also commented on the revelations of Gänswein.
According to Gänswein's book, however, it was less of a problem than the corresponding fan bases, which then backed the two popes and increasingly faced each other with controversy.
However, Gänswein was never able to notice any tension or "disagreement", as he told the German Press Agency.
Rather, the fan communities of the two popes “provoked each other and a dynamic developed that sometimes gave the impression: I stand with Francis, I stand with Benedict.
Apparently,
Rubric list image: © IMAGO/Italy Photo Press