Georg Gänswein, the former personal secretary of the Pope Emeritus, must leave the Mater Ecclesiae monastery, where he resided with Benedict XVI, who died on December 31 at the age of 95, before February 1.
According to German Catholic information portals, citing the weekly ‘Die Zeit’, Gänswein received this instruction directly in a note sent by Pope Francis.
The Mater Ecclesiae monastery, within the Vatican gardens, was the residence of the Pope Emeritus for almost ten years, where he lived with his secretary and the ‘memores’ who helped him in the daily tasks.
Pope Francis met last Monday, January 8, with Gänswein, as stated in his public agenda, although the details of their meeting, held a few days before the publication of the memoirs of the personal secretary of the Pope emeritus, have not been made public.
The book ‘Nada más que la verdad, mi vida al lado de Benedicto XVI’ (Piemme), which went on sale this Thursday in Italy, has generated controversy around the world for the revelations made by Benedict XVI’s personal secretary and for the fact that its contents became known in the same week of the death of the Pope emeritus. The Spanish publishing sector has until tomorrow to bid for the rights to this volume, according to sources in the sector, as pointed out to Europa Press.
Among other confidences, the German archbishop says that it caused him «pain in his heart» that Pope Francis limited the Mass in Latin and that he was «in shock» when Bergoglio removed him from his position as prefect of the Pontifical Household to devote himself to taking care of Benedict XVI.
In the book, to which Europa Press has had access, Gänswein assures that, at the end of January 2020, he became a «prefect reduced to half».
According to the testimony of Benedict XVI’s personal secretary, after the controversy over Cardinal Sarah’s book, he met with Bergoglio and Bergoglio told him: «From now on, stay at home, accompany Benedict, who needs you».
Back in the monastery, he recalls that, when he told Ratzinger, the latter said to him, in an ironic tone: «It seems that Pope Francis no longer trusts me and wants you to be my guardian».
DESTROY PRIVATE DOCUMENTS «WITHOUT EXCEPTION».
Gänswein also tells in the book that he received precise instructions from Benedict XVI to destroy all his private documents of all kinds «without exception.»
On the other hand, he refers to an episode that made him feel «humiliated» when, as he explains, Pope Francis told him that his presence was not necessary during a visit last June 2014 to the community of Sant’Egidio.
He also explains that the continuous comparisons between Pope Francis and Benedict XVI «have always saddened Ratzinger, especially when the commentary came from within the Vatican.» Thus, he gives the example of the Argentinean Pope’s decision not to live in the apartments of the Apostolic Palace and to move to a smaller room in Casa Santa Marta.
WYD IN MADRID UNLOCKED THE RESIGNATION At another point in the book, his former personal secretary reveals that it was his trip to WYD in Madrid in 2011 that triggered the first reflections about the possibility of resigning from the pontificate.
In any case, he clarifies that the decision to resign was final and irreversible during the apostolic trip to Mexico and Cuba, between March 23 and 29, 2012, especially after he tripped over a doormat while he was in the bathroom shaving, falling backwards and hitting his head on the shower ledge.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
