High-profile Monsignor to head the papal household

18 Dec 2012

By The Record

Archbishop-designate Georg Ganswein, personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI and prefect of the papal household, stands next to a fish bowl on December 11 during the presentation of the Italian-language children's book "The Mystery of a Little Pond" in Rome.
Archbishop-designate Georg Ganswein, personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI and prefect of the papal household, stands next to a fish bowl on December 11 during the presentation of the Italian-language children’s book “The Mystery of a Little Pond” in Rome.

Pope Benedict XVI has named his personal secretary, Mgr Georg Ganswein, an archbishop and the new prefect of the papal household.

The 56-year-old Archbishop-designate began working with then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in 1996 in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. When the Cardinal was elected Pope Benedict in 2005, Mgr Ganswein, who was his personal secretary, moved with him into the papal apartments.

The prefect of the papal household is a position that involves organising papal audiences.

Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said on December 7 that Archbishop-designate Ganswein would continue, for the time being, also serving as the Pope’s personal secretary.

Born on July 30, 1956 in Waldshut, Germany, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1984 for the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau.

After earning a degree in canon law from the Catholic theologian institute at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, he worked in the Freiburg archdiocesan tribunal before joining the staff of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments at the Vatican in 1995.

He transferred to the doctrinal congregation a year later. As Pope Benedict’s personal secretary, he has accompanied the Pope at personal and private audiences at the Vatican and around the world.- CNS