ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II 
TO THE DIRECTORS, OFFICIALS AND OFFICERS OF THE 
INSPECTORATE OF PUBLIC SECURITY AT THE VATICAN

Friday, 14 January 2000

 
Mr Director,
Officials and Public Security Officers,

1. This year I again have the joy of meeting you and expressing my gratitude for your service to the Apostolic See and to my own person. I extend my most cordial greeting to you all. In particular, I express my gratitude to Dr Carlo Fellicò for the kind words he addressed to me on your behalf, expressing the sentiments you share.

To each of you, who make up the Inspectorate of Public Security at the Vatican, I once again express my esteem and appreciation for the diligent work you carry out with a high sense of responsibility. Thank you for the attentive and, at the same time, discreet and skilful presence with which you accompany the Pope on his visits and trips to the various regions of Italy.

Our meeting today is even more significant because it takes place within the context of the Great Jubilee of the Year 2000, an event of unique spiritual importance, which has already seen in these first few days crowds of pilgrims streaming to Rome from every part of the world. Directors, officials and public security officers, you too are called to greater commitment to ensure that the celebrations and events connected with the Jubilee can be held in an orderly and beneficial way. External order, which is your special function, will certainly encourage an interior order filled with serenity and peace.

2. We have just ended the Christmas season. Every Christmas our memory returns to Bethlehem, to that place and to that Family which became the home where the eternal Son of God came to dwell. With particular emotion this year, Christmas took us back to that extraordinary moment when the mystery of the Incarnation became a reality. We spiritually encountered Christ, born for us on the Holy Night, and we received from him his renewed invitation to be converted to love and forgiveness.

May this spiritual experience accompany us throughout the Holy Year! May the Great Jubilee be a time of spiritual concentration, a time of reconciliation with God and with our brothers and sisters. In this perspective, my wish is that each of you will spend the months ahead in the best way possible by welcoming the gifts of grace that this event of salvation offers us. I hope that you will experience within you that peace which the angels of Bethlehem announced to all people of good will.

I extend a special thought to your families:  may the Holy Year 2000 be for them, as for all the families of the world, an occasion of grace and redemption. May every heart open itself with trust to Christ, the only Redeemer of man!

3. Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord protect you in the work that you carry out in collaboration with the other security forces. May Blessed Mary, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother, help you. May she, who knows the risks your service involves, be beside you in your difficulties and obtain for you God's blessing on your ideals, aspirations and plans, and may she help you, by her example, to follow in the footsteps of her Son, Jesus.

For my part, I assure you of a constant remembrance in my prayer and, as I wish you and your families a happy New Year 2000, I cordially impart to you a special Apostolic Blessing.

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