German Archbishop Georg Gänswein, the longtime personal secretary of Pope Benedict XVI, spent the Feast of the Epiphany in a small parish in northern Italy, explaining to parishioners that Benedict was a man of prayer and dispelling conspiracies surrounding his historic resignation.
Addressing the faithful at the Sacred Heart parish in Carnovali, Bergamo, on January 6 for the Feast of the Epiphany, Gänswein described the late pontiff, who died on December 31 of last year at the age of 94, as someone "whose vocation was that of a university professor and not an ecclesiastical career."
"He was not born to exercise power," Gänswein said, but insisted that, once elected and faced with troubling problems in the Church such as the pedophilia scandals, "he had a strong sense of responsibility: already a cardinal, he saw that the great problem of the Church was not persecutions or attacks from the outside, but the filth produced within."
The awareness of this "cost him dearly," Gänswein said, adding:
"We never saw him cry because he was very self-controlled and mastered his emotions, but he suffered."
Gänswein debunked various conspiracy theories surrounding Benedict's historic resignation from the papacy in 2013, which many Italians still believe, saying that when Benedict confided his decision to resign to him, "It was a very hard blow."
"I told him: Holy Father, you cannot do this. But he explained to me that he had fought and had suffered, but that he no longer had the physical and psychological strength to exercise this responsibility," Gänswein said, emphasizing that "the gay lobbies, the IOR, pedophilia, Vatileaks, have nothing to do with it."
Benedict, he said, "did not flee, he said, 'my pockets are full,' but he resigned out of love for God and for the Church."
From the beginning, Gänswein said Benedict believed his pontificate would be short due to his age, as he was 78 at his election, and that after his resignation, "he was convinced he would not live more than a year." He lived nearly 10 years after resigning.
Gänswein, 67, a conservative widely seen as critical of Pope Francis, was sent back to his home diocese of Freiburg last year by Francis.
He returned to Italy for the first anniversary of Benedict XVI's death and celebrated a Mass on December 31 for the occasion in St. Peter's Basilica, with Cardinals Gerhard Müller, who is retired, and Kurt Koch, Prefect of the Vatican's Dicastery for Promoting Christian Unity.
In his homily that day, Gänswein described Benedict as a "shining example" for Christians and thanked Benedict for his life and witness, saying:
"We also remain connected with Benedict XVI. In all gratitude to God for the gift of his life, the richness of his teaching, the depth of his theology, and the shining example of this simple and humble worker in the Lord's vineyard."
Noting that Benedict wished to spend the rest of his years after his resignation in prayer, Gänswein said prayer became an increasingly central axis of his life, with growing intensity and interiority over the years.
Benedict, born Joseph Ratzinger, also tried to model his life on the virtues of Saint Joseph, Gänswein said, highlighting that this was evident in his closeness to God and in his interactions with others, "relationships marked by great courtesy, humility, and simplicity."
Gänswein was invited to celebrate Mass for the Feast of the Epiphany at the Sacred Heart parish in Bergamo by the church's pastor, Daniel Boscaglia, who met Gänswein during his studies in Rome.
After celebrating the morning Mass for the January 6 feast, Gänswein later held a public discussion in the parish hall in the afternoon titled "Father Georg Meets the City of Bergamo: Testimonies, Encounters, and Anecdotes from the Voice of Benedict XVI's Secretary."
The panel was moderated by Italian journalist Marco Roncalli, who attends the parish and is the grandnephew of the Italian prelate Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, who was elected Pope John XXIII in 1958.
Gänswein then led an evening Vespers service that culminated in a moment of Eucharistic adoration and blessing.
In the public conversation, reported by Italian media, Gänswein reportedly dodged a question about Benedict's relationship with Pope Francis, but said that Benedict, despite his close friendship with Pope John Paul II, also had differences with the Polish pope.
"They spoke at least once a week, there were differences over the meetings in Assisi, canonizations, and other issues, but by discussing them, they overcame them. The pontificate of John Paul without Ratzinger would not have been the same, for him he was a trusted friend and he publicly acknowledged it," Gänswein said.
Noting that Benedict had a bad reputation in the secular press due to his strict repression of perceived doctrinal dissenters, with some even nicknaming him "God's Rottweiler," Gänswein said that Benedict attended the Second Vatican Council as a young priest "and defended the true Council, while some wanted to interpret it."
He highlighted the tension that developed between Benedict and the Swiss priest and theologian Hans Küng, who served as a theological advisor during the Council but was later sanctioned by the Church for his questionable theology.
"Hans Küng was envious, he told him that he had gone from a progressive to a conservative to advance his career, but it wasn't true, he simply wanted to defend the true faith," Gänswein said, adding that when Benedict was elected pope, he had no specific governance plan.
Benedict, he said, stated that he wanted to "put the question of God at the center of my pontificate, the rest can be sorted out. He was a person who could be summed up in three words: humble, gentle, and intelligent."
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Gänswein said Benedict's later years were dedicated to prayer with rosaries, spiritual contemplation, and celebrating Mass, and that from time to time, he would watch the "Don Camillo" films by Italian journalist and cartoonist Giovannino Guareschi, a series of films produced in post-war Italy following the life of the protagonist, Don Camillo, and his parishioners in the small town of Boretto.
"By watching them, a German understands the Italian soul well, which hasn't changed much since then," Gänswein said, referring to the 1950s when the series was first produced.
Guareschi, he said, "was an excellent theologian, he was better than some professors who give incomprehensible speeches."
Gänswein also insisted that Benedict XVI, often portrayed as severe and serious, was more playful and joyful than people think.
"If you go on Google and write the word 'joy,' you get Benedict XVI as a result. For him, it was a key word: faith is not a burden, but joy was one of its fruits, just like his subtle humor," he said.
After serving as Benedict's closest collaborator for 20 years, Gänswein said that with Benedict gone, "I feel his spiritual omnipresence, but I miss his physical presence very much."