Pope Benedict XVI Blog

"I promise you my obedience, my fidelity, my effort in all that you demand of me"

Inside the Vatican
(Newsflash July 30/07)

A very special interview with Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gaenswein. It contains important reflections on the Pope's 2006 Regensburg talk, on the new motu proprio, and on the Pope's day-to-day private life from the person who is closest to him...

Special Note: The following interview with Monsignor Georg Gaenswein, Personal Secretary to Pope Benedict XVI from even before his election to the papacy on April 19, 2005, done by German writer Peter Seewald, appeared last week in the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung (Munich). It has now been posted in translation, in Italian as well as English, by various Web sites on the Internet. Here is an English translation by Gerald Augustinus, who posted it on his website at: http://closedcafeteria.blogspot.com/2007/07/interview-with-msgr-gaenswein.html --The Editor

by Peter Seewald

Interview Translation by Gerald Augustinus

7/27/2007 8:17:00 PM

By Translation by Gerald Augustinus - The Cafeteria Is Closed Blog

Father Georg Gaenswein (a monsignor) is Pope Benedict's personal assistant. He gave an interview to the German (Munich) newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung. I have translated it. The interviewer was Peter Seewald, who was a lapsed Catholic, spent a couple of weeks with Pope Benedict (then cardinal) and returned to the Church. I spent all night writing this exclusive English translation - reading, translating and typing at the same time. Still took hours. It is one of the most interesting insider interviews you'll come across.

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Peter Seewald (PS): Herr Praelat, how is the Pope?

Msgr. Gaenswein (MG): He's well, feels very good, works a lot and is in "high gear."

PS: Does he use the exercise bike that his physician, Dr. Buzzonetti, told him to?

MG: The bike is in our Appartamento Privato.

PS: What does that mean?

MG: It's being a good bike, ready to be used.

PS: When he was a cardinal, Joseph Ratzinger wanted to retire, stating he was exhausted.

MG: With his election as Pope something happened that he neither strived for nor wanted. But I am convinced that, as he by and by surrendered to God's will, the grace of the office in his person and his actions has shown effect and still is.

PS: How did he react to the election results?

MG: I entered as the cardinals were kneeling before the Pope in the Sistine Chapel, swearing him fidelity and obedience. His face was almost as white as his soutane (cassock). He looked pretty stirred.
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posted by Dr. Denice Hanley, DPM, M.Div. @ 10:04 PM