Scottish Catholic Observer

PERSONAL Secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, Mgr Georg Ganswein has received the Capri San Michele prize for his book about the Pope’s first five years.

Mgr Ganswein’s  book Benedict XVI: Urbi Et Orbi was published to commemorate the Pope’s fifth anniversary of his election.

The book contains pictures from the Pope’s travels including his first World Youth Day in Cologne in 2005 to the Pope’s visit to the Czech Republic last September.

In an article in L’Osservatore Romano titled ‘The Pope of surprises,’ the monsignor described how Pope Benedict XVI and his predecessors ‘responds with his own personality and with his own repeatable sensitivity’ to their role, highlighting how the Holy Father was the ‘first devotee’ to his predecessor Pope John Paul II.

The monsignor praised his warmth, and ‘true simplicity,’ as well as his courage in engaging in difficult current debates and ‘re-evangelising’ the west, saying that: “He calls the insufficiencies and errors of the west by name, criticises that violence that attempts to find a religious justification”

The Capri San Michele Prize was established in 1984 to recognise ‘exceptional’ contributions to culture, faith and dialogue, and comprises of a jury of Italian researchers and intellectuals.

The prize is named after The Story of San Michel, by Swedish physician Axel Munthe, republished several times and translated into multiple languages since its release in 1929.

Pope Benedict XVI won this award twice in 1992 for Turning Point for Europe, and in 2004 for Truth and Tolerance, Christian Belief and World Religions.