One year after his expulsion, Pope appoints former secretary to Benedict XVI in Baltic countries as nuncio

Archbishop Gänswein’s career has not been related to this area, nor is he an ex alumnus of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, where papal nuncios (the Pope’s ambassadors to countries with which the Holy See has diplomatic relations) are trained.

(ZENIT News / Vatican City, 06.25.2024).- On the morning of Monday, June 24, the Holy See Press Office announced the appointment of Monsignor Georg Gänswein as the new papal nuncio to the Baltic countries, namely Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia.

This appointment, made a year after his expulsion from the Vatican and subsequent relocation to Germany, places the former secretary of Benedict XVI in an unfamiliar field: diplomacy. Archbishop Gänswein’s career has not been related to this area, nor is he an ex alumnus of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy, where papal nuncios (the Pope’s ambassadors to countries with which the Holy See has diplomatic relations) are trained.

In Latvia, 26.2% of the population is Catholic (about 500,000 Latvians); in Lithuania, 77% of the population is Catholic (1.5 million people); and in Estonia, 1% of the population is Catholic (a little over 5,000 people).

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