Get our free newsletter
Last weekend, Time Magazine declared Georg Gänswein, Pope Benedict’s personal secretary, a “heartthrob.” Over the course of the piece, Time sketched a profile of the 51-year-old adviser to the pontiff using the following descriptors:
-handsome
-elegant
-gorgeous
-tall
-athletic
-austere
-severe
-ethical
-affable
-quick-witted
-scene-stealing
-dirty-blonde
Gänswein, who is known to locals as “Bel Georgio” or “Gorgeous Georg,” is also described in the magazine as possessing both “glamour” and “bravura.” Yep: He’s the dude on the left with the sash. Sure, he’s pretty good-looking guy. But is he really a scene-stealing dirty-blonde paragon of athletic and ethical bravura?
You decide:
It’s our 40th anniversary! This year, give your community the gift of local journalism.
– Gänswein looking coy
– Gänswein looking carefree
– Gänswein looking concerned
– Gänswein looking deep into your eyes
Despite Time‘s extended praise of Gänswein’s other-worldly good looks, I suspect that there’s an ulterior motive to most of the fawning. There’s only one reason you dub a celibate priest with a nickname like “Georgeous Georg”: You think he’s totally gay. The other nickname Vatican residents have bestowed upon Gänswein, “Gay-Org,” is less subtle.
Photo via Wikipedia Commons