Pope sends Benedict XVI’s former aide back to Germany in latest sign of falling out

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has fired the longtime aide to the late Pope Benedict XVI and ordered him to return to his native Germany. It’s the final chapter in a very public falling out that culminated with Archbishop Georg Gaenswein’s tell-all memoir that was highly critical of Francis. While all papal secretaries usually return to their dioceses of origin following the death of the popes they served, the Vatican’s announcement on Thursday betrayed some of the ill-will that had clearly developed between Gaenswein and Francis. Speculation about Gaenswein’s future had swirled following Benedict’s Dec. 31 death and deepened a week later with the publication of his memoir “Nothing But the Truth: My Life Beside Pope Benedict XVI.”