Strictly speaking, it wasn't Benedict XVI.

himself, who corrected himself on Monday.

It was his private secretary, Georg Gänswein, who let the world know that the pope emeritus made a statement that was "objectively wrong".

Contrary to what was previously claimed, Joseph Ratzinger took part in a meeting of the diocese leadership on January 15, 1980 in Munich, it is now said.

At that time it was about a priest from the diocese of Essen who had molested children and later continued to do so unmolested in the archdiocese of Munich.

Thomas Jansen

Editor in Politics.

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Matthias Rub

Political correspondent for Italy, the Vatican, Albania and Malta based in Rome.

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From Benedict XVI

was in the third person throughout Monday's statement.

"He would like to emphasize that this did not happen out of bad faith." One could dismiss it as journalistic sophistication, which is why between Gänswein and Benedict XVI.

to distinguish.

The latter just dictated to Gänswein what he should write.

But when the person on whose behalf something is being communicated turns 95 in April and the whole affair – to put it mildly – ​​seems very strange, doubts arise.

Why did Benedict XVI.

not express yourself in writing?

After all, Gänswein asserts in almost every interview that the Pope Emeritus is still “crystal clear in the head”.

Perhaps Benedict XVI wanted to

save the shame of personally admitting the alleged "editorial error";

However, it cannot be ruled out that Gänswein suggested such an approach to the pope or even urged him to do so.

Observers have been wondering for some time to what extent Benedict XVI.

is still in control of what is happening and whether his private secretary has not long since taken the reins.

But who is Georg Gänswein?

Gänswein has been working for Benedikt for 26 years

He is now probably the only remaining confidant of Benedict XVI after his brother Georg Ratzinger died in July 2020 at the age of 96.

Nobody knows the emeritus pope as well as he does.

For 26 years, the clergyman from the village of Riedern am Wald in the Black Forest, with four hundred souls, has been at Ratzinger's side.

After a short guest appearance as personal adviser to the Freiburg Archbishop Oskar Saier, Gänswein came to the Vatican in 1995 – apparently he and Saier were not on the same wavelength.

As prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Ratzinger soon brought him from the Congregation for Worship to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and in 2003 he made Gänswein his personal adviser.

When Ratzinger was elected Pope in April 2005, Gänswein moved with him to the Apostolic Palace as private secretary.

During this time, no one who went to Benedict XVI could get past Gänswein.

wanted.

He himself has described his role as a "snowplough" to protect the pope from the avalanche of inquiries.

With his direct manner he offended many monsignori in the Vatican clan culture.

Nevertheless, Gänswein rose to become one of the most powerful men in the Vatican.

Because nobody was as close to the Pope as he was.

It was over in one fell swoop when Benedict XVI.

resigned at the end of February 2013.

Gänswein moved with him to a converted monastery in the Vatican Gardens, and the papal string puller increasingly became the caretaker of a frail old man.

Benedict could always rely on his loyalty

The two are an unequal couple: the doctor of canon law has what Benedict XVI.

comes off

He is a practical man, the Benedict XVI.

has his back, someone who knows what makes the Vatican tick, not an intellectual like Ratzinger.

Benedict could always rely on his loyalty.