Georg Gänswein (pronounced [ˈɡeːɔʁk ˈɡɛnsvaɪn]; born 30 July 1956) is a German prelate of the Catholic Church who was named Apostolic Nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia on 24 June 2024.

He received his doctorate in canon law from Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1993, writing his dissertation about Ecclesiology according to the Second Vatican Council.

He said that he accompanied Benedict to morning audiences, followed by lunch together, a "short walk," and a rest, after which he presents him with documents which require his attention.

[16] On 7 December 2012, Gänswein was appointed Prefect of the Pontifical Household, replacing Cardinal James Michael Harvey, and raised to the rank of archbishop with the titular see of Urbs Salvia.

[17][18] Some criticized the appointment as the promotion of a personal favourite into a position to control access to the pope and whose conservative views would "confirm, reinforce and encourage" Benedict's.

[4] In this position, Gänswein arranged papal audiences both public and private, regardless of their size or rank of visitors, and handled the logistics for most large Vatican events and ceremonies as well as the pope's travels both in Rome and Italy.

[19] A few weeks later Pope Benedict resigned from the papacy effective 28 February, and Gänswein moved with him to Castel Gandolfo while continuing as prefect.

The Holy See Press Office said Gänswein's role reflected a "redistribution of the various commitments and duties" of papal household staff.

[27][28] On 15 June 2023, the Holy See Press Office announced that Gänswein's last day as prefect was 28 February 2023, and that "for the time being" Pope Francis had told him to return as of 1 July to his home diocese, the Archdiocese of Freiburg im Breisgau.

[34] An appointment to a diplomatic post is tradition for former papal secretaries and had been rumored for Gänswein as early as March 2023,[35] and an assignment to the Baltic states was discussed in the press in April 2024.

[36] The Catholic News Agency described Gänswein's appointment as nuncio as a surprise as he and the pope have had quite a "strained relationship" and Francis had left him without an official role for a year.

[38] Gänswein becomes only the sixth active apostolic nuncio who did not attend the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, the training institute for most members of the diplomatic corps of the Holy See.

[43] On the first anniversary of the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, Gänswein said that "I am certain, indeed convinced, that history will offer a judgment that will be different from what one often read in the last years of his pontificate because the sources are clear and clarity springs from them.

Gänswein said that Francis and Benedict are not two popes "in competition" with one another, but represent one "expanded" Petrine Office with an "active" member and a "contemplative" one.

"[45] Asked by German television network ZDF on March 13, 2014, whether the election of Pope Francis at the conclave the previous year had surprised him, Archbishop Gänswein said, "Well, yes, as I had favoured other candidates.

[46] In January 2015, Gänswein denied a rumour that Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI had met the previous autumn with conservative cardinals concerned that the Synod of Bishops on the Family might allow civilly remarried Catholics access to the Eucharist.

"[48] In 2019, after Bishop Evaristo Pascoal Spengler [pt] of Marajó, Brazil, told reporters that revisions Benedict made to canon law in 2009 could allow the ordination of women deacons,[49] Gänswein said that assertion was "totally absurd and wrong".

[51] The Pope answered to such allegations in the book-interview El Sucesor of Spanish Vatican correspondent Javier Martínez-Brocal, lamenting that the book was published on the day Benedict's funeral and accusing Gänswein of "lack of nobility and humanity".

The Holy See Press Office said Gänswein's role reflected a "redistribution of the various commitments and duties" of papal household staff.

[23] In an interview in advance of the October 2014 synod of bishops on the family, Gänswein was asked about allowing divorced and remarried Catholics to receive communion.

"[56] In 2017, asked about the dismissal of Cardinal Gerhard Müller from his post as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Gänswein said: "I don't want to comment on a papal staff decision.