ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE MANAGEMENT AND STAFF OF THE OFFICE RESPONSIBLE
FOR PUBLIC SECURITY AT THE VATICAN 

Clementine Hall
Monday, 26 March 2018

Mr Chief of Police, Mr Prefect, Dear Officers and Agents!

Welcome to this traditional appointment, which gives me the opportunity to express my gratitude to you for the service you render to the Apostolic See and Vatican City. I thank the Chief of Police for the kind words he addressed to me on your behalf. I greet each one of you, offering my sincere wishes for an Easter enlightened by faith and enlivened by the most beautiful and true affections and values.

This Inspectorate of Public Security offers valuable collaboration in the pastoral ministry of the Bishop of Rome. I am grateful for your vigilant presence and for the assistance you provide during the celebration of the liturgical rites and the numerous events that involve Saint Peter’s Basilica and the entire Vatican City. The Pope and his co-workers also know that they can count on your cooperation during pastoral visits to the parishes and to the civil and ecclesial institutions of Rome, as well as during pastoral visits in Italy.

Thanks to your discreet and effective surveillance work, pilgrims from all over the world who come to visit the tomb of the Apostle Peter have the opportunity to peacefully enjoy this important experience of faith. You carry out your daily task nourished by the civil and human ideals of the members of the Italian State Police. However, contact with events of considerable religious and cultural importance and with priests, religious and lay people who collaborate in the universal mission of the Successor of Peter, certainly offers your work additional reasons for commitment and dedication. In fact, the special condition in which you work allows you to strengthen your professional dedication, drawing life and vigour from the perennial truth of the Gospel. In this way, by bearing witness in your activity to the human and spiritual values of Christianity, you can also make a contribution to the Church’s mission.

The Vatican is not only a destination for Christians from all over the world, but also for representatives of various religions, heads of states and leading ecclesiastical and civil figures who come to meet the Pope or his collaborators in the Holy See’s various departments. Also thanks to your work, these meetings of dialogue and visits to the testaments to culture and faith, safeguarded in Vatican City, can take place in an atmosphere of serenity and order.

In renewing my appreciation for your cooperation, therefore, I entrust each of you to the protection of the Mother of God. May she support you and receive your intentions, presenting them to her Son. I address a special thought to your families, especially to your children and, as I ask you to pray for me, I wish you a happy Easter and I heartily impart to you and to all those dear to you the Apostolic Blessing.