Archbishop Georg Gänswein on Pope Francis, His Reassignment, and Benedict XVI
Return to Freiburg After Benedict XVI’s Death
“As soon as Benedict XVI's funeral was over, Pope Francis decided that I should immediately return to my home diocese of Freiburg. However, in a move that was highly unusual for the secretary of a deceased pontiff, I was not assigned any duties.”
“Even some people who were not exactly friends confided to me that this treatment of me had indeed been excessively harsh.”
The Request for an Audience With Pope Francis
“A year later, on 31st December 2023, on the first anniversary of Benedict XVI's death, I came to Rome to celebrate Mass at the altar of St Peter's Chair and another near his tomb in the Vatican Grottoes.”
“It was one of the Memores Domini who advised me to request an audience with the Pope, but I had decided to stay only two days and it seemed difficult to arrange.”
“However, I thought about it one night and the next day I asked to meet Francis.”
The Papal Audience and Its Outcome
“The audience was immediately granted, and the four Memores came with me.”
“As soon as we sat down, the Pope asked me, ‘How are you finding Freiburg?’”
“I replied frankly, ‘Badly, Your Holiness. After all these years of intense activity, doing nothing hurts my heart, my soul and my spirit.’”
“Bergoglio told me he would think about it, but asked me to write a short report on what we had said to each other and deliver it to the Secretariat of State.”
“I did so, and after a few months I was informed that Pope Francis had decided to assign me to a nunciature.”
Benedict XVI’s Preaching as Pope Emeritus
“Joseph Ratzinger has always continued to preach, even as Pope Emeritus.”
“Every Sunday, from 2013 to the end of 2018, when his voice had begun to fade more and more, Pope Benedict preached, and perhaps in those years he delivered his most beautiful and meaningful homilies and sermons.”
Recording without Benedict's Approval
“The Memores thought it appropriate to record them, but Benedict XVI never knew about it.”
“We wanted those wonderful homilies, those touching sermons, not to be lost, and for years, every Sunday, we recorded them.”
“The Memores, with tireless and meticulous work, then slowly transcribed them and transferred them to various files.”
“When Father Federico Lombardi, President of the Ratzinger Foundation, found out about this, he asked me what we wanted to do with them.”
“And so, thanks to him and Lorenzo Fazzini, the idea of publishing them was born.”
No Beatification
“For some time now, I have been receiving many emails and letters containing testimonies of miraculous events that occurred after praying to and invoking Pope Benedict.”
“These testimonies come to me from all over the world and are very detailed and accurate.”
“I am keeping them as they arrive, but when I contacted the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, I was told that there is no canonical process open and that I should therefore collect the material myself.”
Picture: Georg Gänswein © Mazur/cbcew.org.uk, CC BY-NC-ND, #newsTyiwndynvc