The Pope won't be wanting for company on his trip to the UK. Rarely is Pope Benedict seen abroad without his dashing private secretary Georg Gänswein, a German-born priest and respected theologian who is the darling of the Italian media thanks to his rugged good looks. Dubbed "Bello Georg" - Gorgeous George - the fifty-three year old has been pictured playing tennis and flies aeroplanes in his spare time [sounds dead butch - Ed].
The heavenly threesome: Bertone, Gänswein and Brenda
Donatella Versace was so taken by Monsignor Gänswein's elegant looks that she once designed an entire range of clothing with him in mind. But he seldom speaks publicly. In 2006, he issued a rare statement criticising a series of satirical sketches of the Pope on Italian television. "Satire is fine," he said. "But these things have no intellectual quality and offend men of the Church." [Oh, well - Ed].
Pope Benedict speaks good English but Monsignor Leo Cushley, a former curate of Motherwell Cathedral, will be on hand for translation duties when needed. Cushley is now a senior diplomat in Rome and heads the Vatican's English sector. Francis Campbell, Britain's first Catholic ambassador to the Holy See since the Reformation, will also be on board.
The most senior cardinal to accompany Pope Benedict, meanwhile, is his close friend and fellow doctrinal conservative, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. The 75-year-old cleric is considered the second most powerful man in the Vatican. Earlier this year, the Catholic Church in England and Wales was forced to issue a rare statement publicly refuting comments from Cardinal Bertone, who had suggested that there was a link between child abuse and homosexuality. The Vatican's secretary caused outrage during a trip to Chile when he labelled homosexuality a "pathology" [he would know - Ed].
