July 30, 2012. (Romereports.com) Despite his youth, he's one of the most important figures in the “papal household”. Georg Gänswein is the pope's personal secretary, who just turned 56 years old.

He was born July 30, 1956 in a small German town. He went on to become ordained in 1984, at the age of 28. In 1993 he moved to Rome to work in the Vatican, and three years later began working in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, by the direct wish from the then Cardinal Ratzinger.


In 2003, Joseph Ratzinger appointed him as his personal secretary. A job that would change dramatically when two years later Ratzinger would be elected pope.

Since then he has become the shadow of Benedict XVI. A special web page was created to offer thanks for all his work under the pope. There, people can leave their own messages and videos to wish a happy birthday to the pope's assistant.


BR/AE
RR
-GdP
-PR