Archbishop Georg Gänswein has said that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI never criticised the restrictions imposed on the traditional Mass by Pope Francis, despite being personally troubled by them.
In an interview published by La Repubblica on April 20, Archbishop Gänswein, who served for years as Benedict’s personal secretary, said: “Benedict never commented on Pope Francis’s motu proprio Traditionis custodes. In my book I wrote that when we read L’Osservatore Romano [about Traditionis custodes], Benedict’s heart grew heavy. That is true, but I am the one saying it, not him.”
The archbishop, now Apostolic nuncio in Lithuania, also spoke at length about the unprecedented coexistence of two popes following Benedict’s resignation in 2013. “There was only one Pope. The other was still called Pope, but he was in reality the Pope Emeritus. That is a very important difference,” he said.
He added that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI himself took visible steps to mark the distinction, removing elements of papal dress and adopting a simpler presentation, even as he retained the title “Pope Emeritus”, which Gänswein confirmed “he chose himself”.
Responding to claims that the resignation had been shaped by scandal, Gänswein rejected any link to the Vatileaks scandal or other controversies. “None of what you have recalled had anything to do with it. Neither Vatileaks, nor the so called ‘gay lobbies’, nor anything else. The resignation was the fruit of deep reflection and intense prayer. The Pope put the question to his conscience and then made his decision.”
He recalled the moment of the conclave that elected Francis, describing how he saw the white smoke from his office before going to the Sala Regia. “Then the door opened and from a distance I saw the cardinals congratulating the new Pope. Almost at once, the name Jorge Mario Bergoglio spread through the entire hall like wildfire.” When he met the newly elected Pope, Gänswein said Francis spoke first: “I would like to meet Benedict. Can you help me?”
The first meeting between the two men took place at Castel Gandolfo on March 23, 2013. Gänswein said the encounter was marked by mutual deference. “When they entered the chapel, Pope Benedict wanted to let Pope Francis go first, but Francis refused. The same thing happened with the prie-dieu.”
He added that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had prepared a box of documents relating to the Vatileaks inquiry, which he handed over personally. “He wanted to explain the contents to Francis and tell him what he thought. He did it in writing, as usual, and put everything inside.”
Archbishop Gänswein confirmed that Pope Francis chose not to reside in the Apostolic Palace after his election. “The Pope told me to find him something else,” he said, admitting that he initially did not take the request seriously. He later understood the decision more clearly when Francis explained: “I have never lived in such large rooms. I want to live in smaller ones.” The Pope subsequently remained at the Casa Santa Marta.
The interview also addressed perceptions of tension between the two pontificates. Archbishop Gänswein said reports of sustained opposition organised around Benedict were exaggerated. “From what I experienced, the real situation was greatly exaggerated.” He acknowledged that “there were some observations about Francis’s behaviour and choices”, but added: “It is perfectly normal to comment on a Pope’s decisions; it is not in itself forbidden.”
Reflecting on his own position, Archbishop Gänswein referred to a remark he had made about carrying the “mark of Cain”. He clarified: “I did say that, but in general, not with reference to Pope Francis.” He added that Benedict’s figure “aroused both friends and enemies”, and that his own association with the former Pope had remained a defining factor.
Archbishop Gänswein also described the personal relationship that developed between the two popes in more ordinary terms. He pointed to small gestures, including visits and the exchange of gifts, as evidence of a cordial rapport. “One could sense it, atmospherically, so to speak, from the climate that had been created between them,” he said, noting that such gestures were “signs of mutual attention”.
He also gave a detailed account of the moment following Benedict’s death, when Francis arrived at the Mater Ecclesiae Monastery. “Pope Francis had told me: ‘When the hour comes, please call me directly.’ I did so on my mobile phone. Shortly afterwards the Pope arrived.” Archbishop Gänswein said: “Francis blessed his predecessor, then sat down beside him, remained in silence for a few minutes, and then we all prayed together.”
Asked about a comparison between recent popes, Gänswein declined to offer a clear characterisation of the current pontificate beyond noting the significance of the name. “That is a difficult question at the moment,” he said. “But the name Leo itself already says something, don’t you think?”
The remarks of Archbishop Georg Gänswein over recent years, taken together with testimony from those close to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, suggest a more restrained relationship than some accounts presented during the years of his retirement alongside Pope Francis.
The evidence increasingly suggests that the relationship may have been difficult, even if this was never publicly acknowledged by Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI himself. His silence, long interpreted as serene acquiescence, now appears as an act of discipline intended to avoid any impression of a divided papacy.
The clearest point of tension concerns the motu proprio Traditionis custodes, which reversed the more permissive framework established by Benedict for the older form of the Roman rite in Summorum Pontificum. Archbishop Gänswein said in an interview with Die Tagespost on January 20, 2023: “It was very hard. I believe that reading the new motu proprio broke Pope Benedict’s heart because his intention had been to help all those who had found their home in the traditional Mass, to find inner peace, liturgical peace, so that they would abandon the position of Archbishop Lefebvre.” That judgement, offered by the man who knew Benedict most intimately in his final years, corresponds to a known priority of Benedict’s pontificate: the reconciliation of those attached to the older liturgy.
Sources close to Archbishop Gänswein and to Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI have further confirmed this, telling AdVaticanum that the promulgation of Traditionis custodes “caused [Benedict] pain”. That pain was not expressed publicly. Instead, Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI maintained the silence he had promised upon his resignation.
More significant, and less often discussed, is the way Archbishop Gänswein’s own position further complicates the picture. Once Prefect of the Papal Household, he was effectively sidelined and later sent to Germany and then the Baltics as nuncio. The same sources told AdVaticanum that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI made both formal and informal requests that his secretary be allowed to remain in the Vatican. They said: “There wasn’t an actual relationship. Sometimes Benedict asked favours of Francis to keep Gänswein in the Vatican and not remove him, both formally and informally.” These requests, it is said, went unanswered.
This asymmetry is also discernible in reflections offered by the papal biographer Peter Seewald in an interview with Nico Spuntoni. Seewald contrasted the widely remembered homily delivered by then Cardinal Ratzinger at the funeral of Pope St John Paul II with the more restrained tone of the rites following Benedict’s own death. “We all remember the warm words that Cardinal Ratzinger spoke at the requiem for John Paul II,” he said. “But no one remembers Bergoglio’s words at the requiem for Benedict XVI. They were as cold as the whole ceremony, which had to be rather brief so as not to honour his predecessor too much. At least that was my impression.”
Pressed on whether such a judgement was too severe, Seewald continued: “I mean, how does one manifest friendship? With a mere statement in words, or by living it?” He pointed to differences “in temperament, culture, intellect and above all in the direction of the pontificates”, adding that Benedict had promised obedience and “remained silent so as not to give the slightest impression of wanting to interfere in his successor’s governance”. That silence, he suggested, was not without consequence. “Benedict trusted Francis. But he was bitterly disappointed several times.”
Historically, the coexistence of a reigning Pope and a Pope Emeritus was itself without precedent in the modern Church. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI sought to define that relationship through withdrawal, discretion and loyalty. His intention was to remove himself entirely from the exercise of authority. Yet the very novelty of the situation meant that every gesture and every silence acquired a significance beyond the personal.