Pope Francis orders ex-aide of Pope Benedict to leave Vatican

FILE PHOTO: Archbishop Georg Gaenswein arrives at the Vatican, January 10, 2023. REUTERS/Guglielmo Mangiapane

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) -Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the private secretary and long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment, the Vatican said on Thursday.

A Vatican statement put an end speculation about what role Gaenswein, a powerful figure in the Vatican for more than a decade before Francis sidelined him after a personal falling out, would have in the Church.