Pope Francis has fired the longtime aide to the late Pope Benedict XVI from his Vatican job and ordered him to return to his native Germany, the final chapter in a very public falling out that culminated with the aide’s tell-all memoir that was highly critical of Francis.
The Vatican confirmed that Archbishop Georg Gaenswein had officially ended his job as prefect of the papal household as of Feb. 28. A statement issued Thursday while Francis was in the hospital recovering from abdominal surgery said the pope had ordered Gaenswein to return to Freiburg, Germany, his diocese of origin, by July 1.
