Pope ‘dashing’ secy on Vanity Fair
Rome: Pope Benedict XVI’s dashing personal secretary Georg Gaenswein has made the front page of the Italian edition of Vanity Fair, under the headline “being beautiful is not a sin.”
“The George Clooney of St. Peter’s is the Vatican’s number two, following his ordination as bishop,” says the magazine, which goes on sale on Thursday and charts Gaenswein’s rise up the Holy See hierarchy. The blue-eyed 56-year-old, who lives in the Vatican as one of the tiny state’s 832 residents, receives love letters from enamoured fans and has learnt not to be distracted from his work by the endless compliments on his looks, the magazine says.
Gaenswein is not officially the Vatican’s number two — that role is held by the powerful secretary of state Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. But his promotion to Prefect of the Papal Household in December means Benedict’s closest adviser wields more influence than ever.
A dapper figure in his black robes and a broad pink sash, Gaenswein has been a constant presence at the Pope’s side at the Vatican and on foreign trips and his close relationship with the Pontiff is said to have sparked jealousy within the Vatican walls. “Personally, I see my role or service to the pope as being like a window. The cleaner, the better. I have to let the sun in, and the less you see the window the better,” Gaenswein said as he received a prize a few weeks ago, according to La Repubblica newspaper. It was Gaenswein who rooted out the whistleblower inside the Vatican in 2012.
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