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PEOPLE AROUND THE POPE

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L'Osservatore Romano has this story and photograph in today's issue:


The funeral of Gertrud Gänswein
Translated from
the 10/28/09 issue of




"I was profoundly struck upon learning of the sudden death of your beloved mother, Frau Gertrud. I still see her vividly before my eyes when we met a few months ago for the celebration of your Silver Jubilee as a priest, with her joy and her natural and direct mannere.

"It is difficult for all of us to believe that she is no longer with us. And once again, we are reminded that we do not know neither the place nor time when the Lord will call us to him. But we do know that we are always in God's hands."

With that letteer, benedict XVI wanted to show his nearness to his private secretary. Mons. Georg Gänswein, at the funeral of his mother who died unexpectedly on Tuesday, October 20.

The text of the papal letter was read by Mons. Wilfried König, chief of the German section in the Secretariat of State, at the end of the funeral rites celebrated on Friday, October 23, at the church of Sankt Leodegar in Riedern am Wald, Germany.

"It is truly very sad," Mons. Gänswein said in his homily, "to lose our mother so unexpectedly. It is almost impossible for me to formulate clear thoughts. Mind, heart and soul are all upset... (And yet) pain, suffering and sorrow cannot be the last word, should not be the last word... Rather, the final farewell must be a moment of gratitude, of immense gratitude from her five children towards our mother who was profoundly good."

"She gave birth to us and raised us in love and in the faith... It did not take a lot of words to bring us close to the faith - it was her personal example, the life she lived day after day, which was effective and convincing."

Her entire life of faith, he recalled, "was deeply anchored in her participation in the liturgical year whose mysteries permeated her flesh and blood, and in the many small signs, visible and invisible, of her devotions which were the irrenunciable elements of her daily life" - she frequented the sacraments and Mass, prayed the rosary, made an annual pilgrimage to the tomb of St. Nicholas of Flue in Switzerland.

There was also her commitment to a women's charitable association of which she was a founding member. And her son recalled his mother's participation in the parish choir, in which she sang for 63 years, up to the last Friday before her death.

And yet, he said, his mother's life "was not always full of sunshine", she was not spared "great challenges and difficult trials", but "from her faith, she drew strength and the certainty of overcoming problems and difficulties... because she had a firm faith in God, which made us all feel good and transmitted confidence" to those who knew her or met her.

"Meditating the Cross of Christ helped her to carry her own cross, but also to help others carry theirs. Her love for Christ flowered through the Cross.

"She was a lady with a joyful heart, and a kindness that conquered", who was always involved with others "gladly, out of conviction, out of choice, and out of love for her fellowmen... because she saw Jesus in others, not in a theoretical way, but concretely and practically".

That is why, he said, she also loved family celebrations, and all the small and grand events of Christian living.

"The good God asked a lot of our beloved mother, but also gave her much more. Knowing that gives us comfort and peace".

The entire town closed ranks about Mons. Gänswein and his sister and three brothers, with their attendance at Frau Gertrud's final rites.

Friends and colleagues from the Vatican also came to the funeral, among them, Monsignors Brian Wells, counselor at the Secretariat of State; Ettore Balestrero, under secretary for foreign relations; and Nicolas Henry Thevenin, one of the private secretaries to Cardinal Bertone; Fr. Hermann Geissler, chief of the doctrinal section in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith; Domenico Giani, head of the Vatican Gendarmerie and the Pope's chief bodyguard; Daniel Rudolf Anrig, commandant of the Swiss Guard; along with Birgit Wansing, of the Schönstatt Movement [and Benedict XVI's longtime personal typist for his manuscripts and speeches) and Christine Felder of the Spiritual Family of The Work.


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