Georg Gänswein

Georg Gänswein (born 30 July 1956) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church who served as Prefect of the Papal Household from 2012 to 2023 and was the Personal Secretary of Pope Benedict XVI.

Gänswein has said that he decided to become a priest in 1974 when he was 18.

He began his seminary training in 1976 and was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Freiburg on 31 May 1984.

He spent the next two years in the Black Forest as a curate (assistant priest).

He received his doctorate in canon law from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1993, writing his dissertation about Ecclesiology according to the Second Vatican Council.

He later said: "After half a year I was so fed up I said to myself, now I'm going to the archbishop and ask him to take me back into the diocese because I can't stand it anymore.... I'd always studied gladly and easily, but studying Canon Law I felt to be as dry as work in a quarry where there's no beer — you die of dryness."

Gänswein moved to Rome in 1993.

He entered the Roman Curia as an official of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments in 1995 and joined the staff of Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger at the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1996.

On 25 April 2000, Pope John Paul II gave him the title Chaplain of His Holiness.

He replaced Josef Clemens as Ratzinger's personal secretary in 2003, when Clemens became secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity.

He became a professor of canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross and taught there until 2005.

When Ratzinger was elected pope in 2005, Gänswein was appointed Principal Private Secretary to His Holiness.

A year later on 28 March 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave him the title Prelate of His Holiness.

In an interview in July 2006, he described the Pope's typical day: "The Pope's day begins with Mass at 7am, followed by morning prayer and a period of contemplation. Afterwards we eat breakfast together, and my day then begins with sorting through the correspondence, which arrives in considerable quantity."

He said that he accompanied Benedict to morning audiences, followed by lunch together, a "short walk," and a rest, after which he presents him with documents which require his attention.

In January 2007, Italian artist and fashion designer Donatella Versace used Gänswein as the artistic inspiration for her Fall 2007 "Clergyman Collection", thereby boosting popular recognition of Gänswein's nickname, "Gorgeous George" (Bel Giorgio).

In 2007 he was mentioned as a possible candidate for archbishop of Archdiocese of Munich and Freising in 2007.

He was a Professor of Canon Law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross for about a decade and has been an archbishop since 2012.

He is currently Honorary Canon of Freiburg Cathedral.

Gänswein is fluent in both speaking and writing Italian, Spanish, German, English, French, and Latin.

Gänswein was born in Riedern am Wald, Waldshut, Baden-Württemberg, a village in the Black Forest and part of Ühlingen-Birkendorf municipality in Germany, as the eldest son of Albert Gänswein, a blacksmith, and his wife Gertrud.

He has two brothers and two sisters.

On 7 December 2012, Gänswein was appointed Prefect of the Pontifical Household, replacing Cardinal James Michael Harvey, and raised to the rank of archbishop with the titular see of Urbs Salvia.

Some criticized the appointment as the promotion of a personal favorite into a position to control access to the pope and whose conservative views would "confirm, reinforce and encourage" Benedict's. In this position, Gänswein arranged papal audiences both public and private, regardless of their size or rank of visitors, and handled the logistics for most large Vatican events and ceremonies as well as the pope's travels both in Rome and Italy.

In January 2013, Gänswein's photo, without his consent, appeared on the cover of the Italian version of Vanity Fair magazine.

In August 2013 he said he did not see himself returning to Germany in such a role, that he was focused on Rome and he did not expect that to change.

In August 2013, anticipating his first sermon in the Freiburg cathedral since being ordained a priest, he said: "I am still a priest of the Archdiocese of Freiburg and see myself as such."

Gänswein plays tennis, and skis.

He has an "amateur pilot's license".

He was consecrated bishop on 6 January 2013 by Pope Benedict.

A few weeks later Pope Benedict resigned from the papacy effective 28 February, and Gänswein moved with him to Castel Gandolfo while continuing as prefect.

He moved with Benedict again on 2 May to the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery in Vatican City.

In 2017 Gänswein suffered from hearing loss, but recovered.

In 2020 he was hospitalized for a serious kidney problem.

In early 2020, following a public dispute with Cardinal Sarah, Gänswein's responsibilities were changed.

Though he remained prefect, he ceased to perform the public functions of that office.

The Holy See Press Office said Gänswein's role reflected a "redistribution of the various commitments and duties" of papal household staff.

Gänswein still held the prefect's title when Pope Benedict died on 31 December 2022.

He met with Pope Francis on 9 January, 4 March, and 19 May 2023, still identified by his prefect's title.

In April 2023, Pope Francis told an interviewer that he had told Gänswein to vacate his Vatican City apartment within a few months and then live either in Italy outside the Vatican or in his native Germany.