• Vatican: War in the Vatican: Benedict XVI demands that his name be erased from the book in which the celibacy of priests is defended

The secretary of Benedict XVI and prefect of the Pontifical House (a kind of chief of protocol), Archbishop George Gänswein , has not attended official events for more than two weeks, just after the controversial publication of a book signed by the Pope emeritus

Gänswein usually sits next to Francisco during the general hearings and is the person who goes out to receive the heads of state and government when they arrive at the Vatican to be received by the pontiff.

But since January 15, when he attended the hearing, the German archbishop, the closest person to Pope Emeritus, has not reappeared in public, although some media say he has been seen walking with Joseph Ratzinger through the Vatican gardens.

German media such as the Catholic weekly Die Tagespost have explained that the German archbishop would have been granted an indefinite work permit , but it is not specified whether it was Francisco who drove him away or if it was the decision of the archbishop himself; although rumors also circulate that he is simply ill.

The director of the Vatican Press Office, Matteo Bruni , explained to Efe that "Gänswein's absence during certain hearings in recent weeks is due to an ordinary redistribution of the commitments and functions of the prefect of the papal house that is also the private secretary of Pope Emeritus. "

The controversial book of Benedict XVI

The disappearance of Gänswein coincides with the enormous controversy that broke out in the Vatican when it was announced in early January, a new book signed by Benedict XVI and Cardinal Robert Sarah , one of the main leaders of the conservative faction of the Catholic Church that criticizes each Francisco's movement.

In the volume , celibacy is strongly defended and its publication coincides with the decision that the Argentine pope will have to take on the proposal to order married men from the Synod on the Amazon .

All this was interpreted as an interference in the Pontificate of Francis by Ratzinger or as a use of Benedict, weakened by age, to attack the Argentine pope .

He had to intervene Gänswein, 63, who continues to live with Benedict XVI in the Mater Ecclesiae residence in the Vatican , to affirm that authorization had never been given for a four-handed book and that Cardinal Sarah had been asked to contact the editors to remove the name of Pope Emeritus as co-author.

But before the overwhelming denial of the personal secretary of Benedict XVI, the Guinean cardinal continued to ensure that he had the authorization of Pope Emeritus.

The case management by Gänswein, the only one currently close to Benedict XVI, was harshly criticized by some means .

Gänswein was Benedict XVI's special secretary during his Pontificate and continued to be after his resignation announced in February 2013; He was also appointed archbishop and prefect of the Pontifical House on December 7, 2012.

For now there is no answer about what happens to "Don Georg" and instead, working full time with the Pope, Leonardo Sapienza, 67, is seen as the regent of the Prefecture of the Pontifical House .

Sapienza has been the one who has received in recent days the US vice president, Mike Pence, the president of Iraq, Barham Saleh, or the Argentine president, Alberto Fernández.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

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