AN archbishop who wrote a tell-all book on tensions between Pope Francis and his predecessor has been ordered to return to Germany, the Vatican said today.  

Just one week after the funeral of Benedict XVI in January, his private secretary Georg Gaenswein released a memoir, revealing details of the relationship between the pope emeritus and his more liberal successor.  

The Vatican did not officially respond at the time, but Pope Francis called Gaenswein into a private meeting, following days of pre-publication interviews in which the German aired years of grievances.  

Vatican commentators speculated that Gaenswein could be appointed as a Vatican ambassador, or as director of an important shrine.  

But today, the Vatican said he had been instructed by the pope to simply “return to his home diocese for the time being”, in Freiburg in southwest Germany, from July 1.  

It did not indicate that he had been given any other assignment. – AFP, June 15, 2023.