Monsignor George Gänswein, 66, collapsed Sunday afternoon when friends, workers and Vatican citizens, as well as members of the Curia, embraced him in the Mater Ecclesiae monastery to offer their condolences on the death of Benedict XVI: “I will miss him very much.”
Gänswein was the faithful secretary of the pope emeritus since 2003his adviser and “almost like a son”, explain people close to the pontiff, and he has abandoned all his activities as prefect of the Papal Household, in charge of protocol, a position for which he was appointed in 2012, to deal entirely with Benedict XVI.
For some he was much more than a simple adviser, because he decided which books Benedict XVI could collaborate on or in his interventions in the almost 10 years following his resignation, especially in recent years, when his health was very fragile.
From him come the words that have helped to understand the state in which Benedict XVI found himself in recent years, of which only a few photos were leaked when he received visits. “He slowly goes out like a candle,” he said.
Y his was the idea to freely open the funeral chapel in the Mater Ecclesiae so that from Sunday the people closest to him could say a last goodbye without controls. Anyone who wanted could cross the Vatican walls and reach the place, immersed in the Vatican gardens, where Benedict XVI “withdrew from the eyes of the world”, as he had promised in 2013.
Who is Georg Ganswein?
Joseph Ratzinger, who was dean of cardinals in 2005 upon the death of John Paul II, had the right to have an assistant to prepare the conclave and chose Gänswein, an expert in canon law with whom he already collaborated in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith directed by the German cardinal .
It would have been personal help just for this occasion, but in the conclave he ended up being elected pope and stayed with him forever.
“Father Georg” became therein the shadow of Benedict XVI during the 8 years of his pontificate and for his affability and courtesy in one of the “favourites” of the press. But his support got stronger after his resignation.
Born in Germany on July 30, 1956, in the town of Riedrn am Wald, near Freiburg, Gänswein was ordained a priest on May 31, 1984.
His transfer to the Vatican took place in the mid-1990s, at the invitation of the then Cardinal Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger, impressed by his skills as a young student of Canon Law, a discipline he taught at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross (Opus Dei) in Rome.
On December 7, 2012, Benedict XVI appointed him prefect of the papal household and conferred on him the office of bishop, just over two months before the announcement, on February 11, 2013, of his surprising and unprecedented resignation as pontiff.
In an interview granted this Monday to Ezio Mauro, director of The Republic, Father Georg explains that he revealed his intentions to resign at the end of September 2012 in Castel Gandolfo. Gänswein told him it was impossible.
“He let me speak. And then he said: you can imagine that I have thought carefully about this election, I have reflected, I have prayed, I have fought. And now I am communicating a decision taken, not a thesis to be discussed. It is not a question to be discussed, it’s settled. Now I’m telling you, but now don’t tell anyone,” he explained.
Regarding the famous scandal of the documents stolen by the butler Paolo Gabriele, Gänswein says that “the devil was against Benedict XVI” and that he even asked the Pope to “fire” him because it was his responsibility not to notice, but he rejected it.
When Gänswein went to Germany on December 25 to say goodbye to his relatives, no one could have imagined that the situation would worsen, but he had to return immediately because Benedict XVI’s condition began to deteriorate.
Last Wednesday she administered the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, and Thursday and Friday celebrated Mass with him in his bedroom. On Saturday morning, he was the one who notified Francisco, the first to know that Benedict XVI was dead.
This Monday, from the early hours of the morning, when the mortal remains of the pope emeritus left the Mater Ecclesiae house to reach St. Peter’s Basilica for the last farewell of the faithful, Gänswein remained by his side. Until the end.
Source: EFE
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Source: Clarin
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.