VATICAN - Pope tells the General Inspectorate for Public Security in the Vatican: “our daily work, whatever it may be, takes on a different value and meaning, because we base it on perennial human and spiritual values that make are lives more serene and more useful to our brothers.”

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – On January 15, the Holy Father Benedict XVI received the General Inspectorate for Public Security in the Vatican for the exchange of New Year's greetings. The Pope expressed his “most heartfelt appreciation” to them for the work that they carry out each day, “with noteworthy professionality and great dedication,” offering an affectionate greeting to all those that “the Italian state sends in for the special service as policemen or security guards,” linked to his mission as Pastor of the Universal Church.
The Pope said: “Considering the work you are called to complete – I remember running in to you every day as a Cardinal, making my way through Saint Peter's Square – I am reminded of the sacrifices that accompany your service. They are sacrifices that you make, but that are also made by your family members, because of the shift-work required in order to maintain constant watch over the area around St. Peter's Square and the Vatican.” In expressing his gratitude, the Holy Father also included the families, with a special recognition of the recently married and those preparing to do so.
“A new year is beginning and we have many expectations and hopes. Yet we cannot hide the fact that many threatening clouds are gathering on the horizon that worry mankind,” Benedict XVI said. “We must not, however, lose heart, rather we must keep the flame of hope alive in our hearts. For us as Christians the true hope is Christ, the Father's gift to humanity. This announcement is for all mankind...the Church continues to proclaim today to all mankind, so that every person and every human situation can experience the power of God's saving grace, which is the only one that can transform evil into good.”
The Pope then recalled that at the light of hope, daily work “whatever it may be, takes on a different value and meaning, because we base it on perennial human and spiritual values that make are lives more serene and more useful to our brothers...a service to others through order and security and, at the same time, a form of individual asceticism; what we may call constant internal vigilance which requires harmony between discipline and cordiality, between self-control and attentive welcome of the pilgrims and tourists who come to the Vatican. If undertaken with love, such service becomes prayer, a prayer even more welcome to God when your work seems unpleasing, monotonous and tiring, especially during the night and in bad weather. It is by doing their duty well", he concluded, "that each of the baptized achieves his or her vocation of sanctity.” (SL) (Agenzia Fides 16/1/2009)