Archbishop Georg Gänswein "did some very difficult things to me", the vengeful Francis claims in his interview book 'El Sucesor'.
His example: When he replaced a head of a Vatican department, whose name he doesn't mention, the decision sparked controversy: "In the midst of all the noise, the secretary took the initiative to take him to see Benedict, because this person wanted to greet him. Since the retired Pope was very friendly, he accepted".
The problem was that "the photo of this meeting was circulated, as if Benedict had reacted to my decision". Francis complains that "honestly, it wasn't right". But it is unfair to blame Gänswein, who was Benedict XVI's secretary and had a professional duty to forward the request to his superior.
It seems that this case doesn't concern the "head of a Vatican department", but Monsignor Livio Melina, president of the John Paul II Institute for the Family in Rome, a long-time collaborator and personal friend of Ratzinger, whom Francis dismissed because he was competent and refused to make the truth dependent on politics. The sacking of Melina fell directly back on Ratzinger, because he had personally wanted him at the John Paul II Institute.
Asked about the books published around the funeral of ex-Benedict XVI, Francis replied that "they have caused me great pain". Apparently Francis is talking about Monsignor Gänswein's book "Only the Truth".
Francis is known for emotionalising things and taking them personally.
[Gänswein] "has turned me upside down by saying things that are not true; it is very sad," Francis whines. In fact, in his book, Gänswein writes about Francis in a very submissive way, mentioning only slight tensions between Francis and Benedict. But Francis interprets this as an alleged "lack of nobility and humanity" - and responds with a real lack of nobility and humanity.
He also speaks badly of Cardinal Robert Sarah, whom he calls "a good man" and "a man of prayer", only to claim that he has been "manipulated by separatist groups", implying that Sarah is an idiot.
But Francis' anger at Sarah is far from over: "Sometimes I have the impression that working in the Roman Curia has made him a little bitter." Once again, the sentimental Francis projects his own negative feelings onto others.
He admits that he never spoke to Benedict XVI about the decision to liquidate the motu proprio Summorum Pontificum.
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