Looking after the Holy Father

The Holy Father's personal secretary, Monsignor Georg Gänswein was born July 30 1956, the eldest of five children in Riedern-am-Wald, a tiny town in the Black Forest, and has admitted to a fondness during his teenage years for Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens and for wearing his hair long.

He was ordained as a Priest in 1984 and moved to Rome a decade later, becoming a professor of canon law at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross.   In 1996 he joined the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was headed by the future Pope, and became his personal secretary in 2003.

After Cardinal Ratzinger's election as Pope Benedict in 2005, Monsignor Gänswein moved in with him to the Vatican's Apostolic Palace.

Monsignor Gänswein is devoted to the administrative and ceremonial requirements of his current job. Though he tends to keep a low profile, he did tell one Catholic newspaper last year a bit about a typical day in the papal apartment:

  "The Pope's day begins with Holy Mass at 7am, followed by morning prayer and a period of contemplation. Afterwards we eat breakfast together, and my day then begins with sorting through the correspondence, which arrives in considerable quantity." He said that he accompanied Benedict to morning audiences, followed by lunch together, a "short walk," and a rest, after which he "presents to the Pope documents which require his signature, or his study and approval."