Is Pope Francis surprisingly lifting the banishment of Benedict's confidant Georg Gänswein? A report suggests this. But an Italian expert also has a different assumption.
Vatican/Rome – These must be long and tough days for Georg Gänswein. Since his release from the Vatican in the summer of 2023, the 67-year-old confidant of Pope Benedict has been living without a job in his home diocese of Freiburg. The former papal secretary fell out of favor with Pope Francis and was banished. But this could now change.
Francis is now said to have promised the German archbishop a position as Vatican ambassador. At least that's what the Argentine daily newspaper
La Nacion
reports , which has a hot line to the headquarters of the Catholic Church through its correspondent Elisabetta Pique. According to the report, “Don Giorgio” will become apostolic nuncio at a location yet to be named. According
to a report in the Italian newspaper
Il Messaggero,
goose wine is to be sent to the Baltics. Lithuania is mentioned as a possibility. Confirmation from the Vatican is still pending, but according to the report it will come “soon”.
Pope Francis apparently lifts the ban on goose wine: all forgiven and forgotten?
According to a report by the KNA, the decision was made during Gänswein's visit to the Vatican on the occasion of the anniversary of Pope Benedict's death at the turn of the year. Gänswein came back to Rome for the first time for a mass for Benedict.
Did Pope Francis tell the man who was Joseph Ratzinger/Benedict XVI's private secretary for 19 years? was, so this opportunity was missed? The rift goes back to Gänswein's book publication (“Nothing but the Truth”). Shortly after Benedict's death, he reported on internal discord in the church in his book of memoirs. As a result, Gänswein fell into disgrace and was sent to Freiburg without a job. So now the U-turn?
This step would be extremely surprising. Especially since a book of interviews with Pope Francis had just been published in which he accused Gänswein of a lack of decency and humanity. However, Francis had already given the relevant interview a few months ago. Before Gänswein asked Francis for a new task because his existence in Freiburg was “from a psychological point of view humiliating and difficult to endure,” as the
Messaggero
further reports. In the interview, the Pope also emphasized that people have to be forgiven after they make a mistake and turn over a new leaf. Is this now the case?
New Pope's Will: Nuncio position for Gänswein? Significant doubts in Italy
In Italy there are considerable doubts about this interpretation. The
Messaggero
reports that, according to information from the daily newspaper, the technical steps for appointing Gänswein as nuncio have actually been forwarded. But the position for the archbishop would be fraught with major problems right from the start, especially after the Pope's recent criticism.
“One wonders what credibility there can be for a papal representative who has been defined by the person he represents, namely the Pope, as a reprehensible person with questionable behavior in a book that has just been published and distributed throughout the world,” says a long-time diplomat the situation to the newspaper from Rome. Meanwhile, Vatican expert and journalist Luis Badilla expresses the suspicion that the news about the nuncio position could be a targeted strategy by the Vatican. This could be an attempt to soften the criticism of the Pope for his harsh words towards Gänswein. In addition, the Vatican could be trying to create the impression that Gänswein is “selling the preservation of Ratzinger’s human heritage for a nunciature in which he can live quietly and away from hostilities.”
(rist)