Archbishop Georg Gänswein, Apostolic Nuncio to Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia, has called the tensions connected to the Synodal Way a “burden for many Catholics in Germany who simply want to live their faith.”

In a July 27 interview with the German-language publication Katholische.de, Archbishop Gänswein said his concerns about the Church in Germany were on the Synodal Way and what he called “fruitless debates” on Church structure, which “tie up important forces in the wrong place”. The archbishop stated the tensions between the Holy See and the Church in Germany “continue to exist and await a final clarification”.

He also expressed his gratitude for the number of young people interested in the Faith in Germany. An upcoming pilgrimage organised by the Fraternal Society of St Peter (FSSP) is expected to double in size this year, as interest in the old rite continues to grow in the country.

Earlier this month, Archbishop Gänswein, who is the former Personal Secretary to Pope Benedict XVI, noted the popularity of the Traditional Latin Mass among young people who were “nourished by the beauty of the liturgy”.

In the recent interview, conducted ahead of his 70th birthday on July 30, Gänswein reflected on his role as Apostolic Nuncio in the Baltic states following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

He noted that “the threat from the east is a permanent atmospheric burden” in the Baltic nations, which “in some cases also depresses them greatly”.

Gänswein said: “As a believer, as a priest, as a bishop and as a nuncio, I try to give hope. The danger is real, there is nothing to gloss over. This makes it all the more important to give people a view beyond the danger and to show them that in the end it is not the threat that has the last word, but hope.”

On the long-term Bundeswehr brigade being established by Germany in Lithuania, he noted that the Lithuanian people were grateful for their presence.

The 45th Panzer Brigade, also known as the Lithuania Brigade, will consist of 4,800 troops to deter Russian aggression in the Baltic states. The archbishop said this was a “clear commitment in the service of security”. Lithuania, which borders Russia via the Kaliningrad Oblast exclave as well as its ally Belarus, had repeatedly requested a permanent German military presence following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“The Germans are welcome here. Of course, the period from 1941 to 1943 has not been forgotten. But thank God the German-Lithuanian relationship has since developed into a good, friendly partnership,” he said.

On the role of the Church in international diplomacy today, Gänswein said it was “crucial that it is not bombs or violence that speak, but that people get into conversation with each other”.

He said: “Diplomacy is supposed to help prevent armed conflicts. And if they do break out, diplomacy must do everything it can to end it. This is a task that is as arduous as it is indispensable. But the louder the violence screams, the more necessary the work of diplomacy becomes.”