Pope Benedict’s ex-secretary won’t get a permanent job in his new German archdiocese

BERLIN (AP) — Church authorities say the longtime secretary to the late Pope Benedict XVI won’t be given a permanent job in the German archdiocese where he has settled, but will lead regular services at Freiburg’s cathedral and can take on “individual assignments” such as confirmations. The Vatican announced last month that Pope Francis had fired Archbishop Georg Gaenswein from his Vatican job and ordered him to return to his diocese of origin, Freiburg in southwestern Germany, without a new assignment. It was the final chapter in a falling-out that culminated with a tell-all memoir by Gaenswein that was highly critical of Francis. The Freiburg archdiocese said Monday that Gaenswein won’t get a job in the archbishop’s office or take on any “permanent, fixed activity for the archdiocese.”