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PORTRAIT. Having accompanied him to the end, this distinguished prelate knows everything about the pope emeritus. The book he is publishing these days is creating a stir in Rome.
Through Quentin Raverdy
Published on
– Modified
JThursday January 5: day of fog and funerals in the Vatican. As Benedict XVI’s coffin is presented to the crowd massed in Saint Peter’s Square, an archbishop leaves the floor of the officials to come and kneel in front of the imposing cypress wood chest and place a last kiss there. In front of the cameras, Georg Gänswein, 66, reveals a sunken face and marked features: far from the image of “George Clooney of the Vatican” which usually sticks to the skin of this elegant German prelate. A slender silhouette, which has become familiar alongside Joseph Ratzinger over the years. First secretary to the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (the former Inquisition), then to the sovereign pontiff, Gänswein accompanied until his last breath the “pope emeritus…
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