Posts Tagged ‘Archbishop Georg Ganswein’

Pope sends Gänswein as ambassador to the Baltic states

Thursday, April 18th, 2024

There is new speculation about the future of Georg Gänswein: the former secretary to Benedict XVI could be sent to the Baltic States as the Pope’s ambassador. This was reported by the newspaper “Corriere della Sera” at the weekend. The Baltic nunciature is located in Lithuania and also includes Estonia and Latvia. The post of Read more

Pope Francis to appoint Archbishop Gänswein as nuncio. But where?

Monday, April 15th, 2024
Archbishop Gänswein

In an unexpected move, Pope Francis has appointed Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the former private secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, as a nuncio in the Vatican diplomatic corps. The move follows tensions between Archbishop Gänswein and Pope Francis (pictured together), marked by the former’s desire for a new role in Rome following Benedict’s death. Elisabetta Piqué, Read more

Benedict XVI’s secretary tests positive for COVID-19

Thursday, April 21st, 2022

Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, has been in isolation for the past ten days after testing positive for COVID-19, according to German media. The German news agency, Katholisch.de, reported April 20 that Gänswein has been in isolation since April 11, a time period that included all of the Easter Triduum and Read more

Benedict XVI had three COVID-19 vaccine doses ‘out of conviction’

Monday, December 6th, 2021

Archbishop Georg Gänswein has said that both he and Benedict XVI have received three COVID-19 vaccine doses “out of conviction.” The pope emeritus’ private secretary made the remark in a nine-page interview in the December edition of the German publication Vatican-magazin. The Vatican began administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine in January and confirmed in Read more

Documentary says Benedict XVI’s secretary tried to convince him not to resign

Thursday, April 15th, 2021

A documentary being released on Benedict XVI’s 94th birthday states that his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, tried to dissuade him from abdicating the papacy. “Benedict XVI, the Pope Emeritus,” directed by Andrés Garrigó, will be released April 16 by Goya Productions. The film will focus on Benedict’s papacy, and his time as prefect of Read more

Archbishop Gänswein: Benedict XVI’s ‘illness is subsiding’

Monday, August 17th, 2020

Benedict XVI’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Gänswein has said that the pope emeritus’ illness is “subsiding.” In an interview with the German newspaper Südkurier, Archbishop Gänswein is reported to have said that Benedict XVI’s “illness is subsiding” and that his medication has been reduced. Benedict XVI has been suffering from facial shingles, a bacterial infection Read more

The shadow pontificate is drawing to a close

Monday, February 10th, 2020
church crisis

It was only a matter of time. Pope Francis has finally lost his patience and gotten rid of Archbishop Georg Ganswein as prefect of the Papal Household. According to the German weekly, Die Tagespost, the pope put the 63-year-old on “indefinite administrative leave.” He did so, the paper said, because of the German prefect’s involvement Read more

Archbishop Gänswein – change of duties downplayed at Vatican

Monday, February 10th, 2020

The Vatican is saying little about a change in duties for Archbishop Gänswein. The Holy See Press Office says the long-time secretary of emeritus Pope Benedict XVI has had his duties as prefect of the papal household “reallocated to others”. It is downplaying 63-year-old Georg Gänswein’s absence from several papal audiences over the past few Read more

Benedict XVI does not confirm Viganò’s claims

Thursday, August 30th, 2018

Reports that Benedict XVI confirmed some of Archbishop Carlo Viganò’s claims about a cover-up of ex-cardinal Theodore McCarrick’s abuse of seminarians are “fake news.” Archbishop Georg Gänswein, who is the prefect of the papal household for Pope Francis, says Pope-emeritus Benedict “has not commented” on an 11-page letter from Viganò, which was released by the Read more

Fake news: ex-Pope Benedict’s dying

Thursday, October 19th, 2017

A fake news report has convinced several media outlets that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI is dying. In fact, he isn’t dying. The report is “pure invention,” Benedict’s personal secretary Archbishop Georg Ganswein says. Ganswein is also alleged to have said Benedict was “like a candle that fades slowly”. “He is serene, at peace with God, Read more