Pope Francis expels former aide of Pope Benedict from Vatican.

Pope Francis has ordered Archbishop Georg Gaenswein, the private secretary and long-time aide of the late Pope Benedict, to return to his native Germany by the end of the month without any new assignment, the Vatican said on Thursday. Gaenswein, a powerful figure in the Vatican for more than a decade before Francis sidelined him after a personal falling out, is 66 and it is exceptionally unusual for someone of that relatively young age and rank not to have an assignment, giving the pope's decision a sense of banishment.