The pope’s second secretary Benedict XVIarchbishop Alfred xuerebpresented this Thursday his book in which he remembers his days with the Supreme Pontiff, for five and a half years.
“My days with Benedict XVI” It is a light book full of photographs that is even considered a diary, according to Xuereb. The work begins with a prologue by the former spokesman for the Holy See, Reverend Federico Lombardiincluding travel, hearings, intimate lunches and banter, as well as tearful and emotional moments surrounding the historic resignation.
“Although the cover bears my name, the true author is Benedict XVI. All I’ve done is report your words pronounced in private, not covered by secrecy, as well as those pronounced as a Pontiff”, assured the author as collected VaticanNews.
Unlike “Nothing but the truth, my life next to Benedict XVI”, the book published weeks ago by Georg Gaensweinhis main assistant, in this work the archbishop mentions that he always remained in excellent terms with both the deceased and Francisco. In this way, he distanced himself from the position of his peer who, in his book, devotes several chapters to his ten-year retirement and his acrimonious relationship with the current Pope.
In this sense, Xuereb considered that the publication of the book was a “must” job to get people to know the “beautiful and significant” stories shared by the Pope “in moments of fraternity” and his “sensitivity and soul.” In any case, he clarified that “there is no pretense of imposing my idea of Benedict. I just want to tell the readers that here he is, this is the man I had the privilege of meeting.”
The launch of “My days with Benedict XVI” took place in the Marconi press conference room of Palacio Pio, in the Vatican, and was attended by the hierarchy of the communications office and was even covered by Vatican Media , in a clear sign of church support to the work Along with it, “La resignación: no huí” was also presented, by a veteran reporter from the source.
With these works, the Holy See has tried to mitigate the wave of criticism of Francis arose after the death of his predecessor. For his part, the Pope acknowledged that the event of December 31 was “instrumentalized” by conservatives to accentuate the idea of a papal competitionwhich has been rumored for a long time.
In this regard, according to VaticanNews, Xuereb declared that he “agrees” with this vision of Francisco. “It was understood that someone always wanted to instrumentalize people, people who could no longer speaklike Benedict.” That is why he would like Ratzinger to be remembered “as he really was, without being influenced by false comments and alterations from those who did not make enough efforts to get to know him up close.”
The archbishop was one of the people closest to the pope emeritus. He accompanied him for five and a half years, between September 11, 2007 and March 15, 2013, as his second personal secretary. He always kept a low and discreet profile, even as part of the “pontifical family.”
With the change of Pope, Xuereb remained with Francisco as his private secretary and also remained in charge of the Ministry of Economy until, in 2018was sent as ambassador to Korea and Mongolia.
(With information from EFE)
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Source-www.infobae.com