> Update 1: Apparently, GNOME bureaucracy is holding up the processing the application of a new maintainer for over a month now.

Could you explain this? You link to a closed bugreport where a new maintainer stepped up. A previously experienced developer said it'll take several months at least to get up to speed.

That a new person needs to be vouched for a critical library is pretty critical. There's been several examples where a malicious developer took over a critical project.