The Path to Forgiveness: Pope Francis and Georg Gaenswein's Journey

For months, Georg Gaenswein had been waiting for a merciful sign from the Pope. Eventually, forgiveness seems to have arrived despite the former personal secretary of Ratzinger having published a memoir (which also contained jabs at Bergoglio) on the day of Benedict XVI's funeral. An unfortunate coincidence that Francis did not appreciate and that was a source of bitterness for him. Since then, things have escalated: Georg was evicted from the Vatican, stripped of his apartment, and sent to Germany, to his diocese of origin, but without a specific assignment. After a year, Pope Francis has decided to entrust Georg with a role in Vatican diplomacy. The rumor came from the Argentinian media, from the newspaper La Nacion, although at the moment in the Vatican nobody confirms or denies it. Shortly after Ratzinger's death on December 31, 2022, various hypotheses about Georg's future had been considered. Initially, there was talk of an assignment within a Marian sanctuary, leading a diocese in Germany, and heading a nunciature in Latin America. All these possibilities, for one reason or another, fell through: Georg had in the meantime moved to Freiburg as a canon, with a salary but without a specific role. A few months ago, Archbishop Gaenwein was invited to Bergamo to give a lecture and present his memoirs and on that occasion, with those present, he let slip some bitter impressions that suggested the pain for not having received anything yet. Now it seems that Francis has changed his mind although it is not clear where Georg could be destined. In the book El Sucessor written by Pope Francis with the Spanish journalist Javier Martin Brocal, Bergoglio had openly expressed his disappointment with Georg's behavior. "The day he published his book was the day Benedict XVI was buried and it hurt me. He told untruths and it is very sad. Of course, it does not influence me and does not condition me but it hurt me a lot that Benedict was used. A lack of humanity and nobility."