The future role of the late Benedict’s secretary has been the subject of rumor and gossip across Rome and the Church in Germany for months. Previous speculations included the claim that Gänswein would serve as papal ambassador in Costa Rica. The eloquent prelate is fluent in several languages, including German and Italian.
According to the German media report, Pope Francis “referred to the custom that the former private secretaries of deceased popes did not remain in Rome.”
A longtime secretary to Benedict, Gänswein also served as prefect of the Papal Household to both Benedict and his successor, Pope Francis, until February 2020.
Hailing from the Black Forest region of Germany, the son of a blacksmith was ordained a priest in 1984 by Archbishop Oskar Saier in Freiburg and holds a doctorate in canon law from Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich.
Gänswein is expected in Germany later this week: He is scheduled to preside over Mass on Sunday, June 4, for an annual pilgrimage to the Cistercian monastery of Stiepel near Bochum, in Western Germany.
AC Wimmer, a multilingual Australian with Bavarian roots, is the founding Editor-in-Chief of CNA Deutsch. Launching his journalism career in a Munich daily in 1992, AC has since become a global news executive and broadcaster. He's held senior roles at Australia's SBS and served as editor-in-chief of the historic Münchner Kirchenzeitung. A holder of degrees in Philosophy and Chinese Studies from the University of Melbourne, Anian Christoph Wimmer — Chinese name 刘威猛
— sat on the jury of the Catholic Media Award of the German Bishops’ Conference, is a former Honorary Research Fellow in Communications at the University of Melbourne and has served on the Board of Caritas in Munich.
