VATICAN CITY, 11 JAN 2008 (VIS) - Benedict XVI today received members of the General Inspectorate for Public Security at the Vatican, in their traditional January meeting to exchange New Year greetings.
He expressed his best wishes for 2008, which he also extended to the members of their families, and he recalled how his Message for World Peace Day this year had as its theme: "The Human Family, a Community of Peace".
Quoting from the text of the Message, the Pope indicated that "the natural family, as an intimate communion of life and love based on marriage between a man and a woman, constitutes 'the primary place of humanisation for the person and society', ... the prototype of every social order".
"In your daily role of vigilance", he told his listeners, "you meet no small number of families. They arrive here from all over the world to pay homage to the Apostles, and in particular to St. Peter upon whose faith Christ founded the Church. They come to renew together their profession of this faith, ... to participate in audiences and celebrations presided by the Apostle Peter's Successor".
The Holy Father thanked the officers of the General Inspectorate for Public Security for their "constant interest in people and in the motives that animate them", as well as for their "willingness, patience and spirit of sacrifice", and he invited them to seek in each pilgrim "the face of a brother or a sister whom God has put in your path, a friend yet unknown, ... in the knowledge that we are all part of the one great human family".
"This is why", he continued, "it is essential for each of us to commit ourselves to living with an attitude of responsibility towards God, recognising in Him the ultimate source of our own life and the lives of others. By returning to this supreme Principle it is possible to perceive the unconditional worth of each human being, and it is thanks to such awareness that we can lay the foundations for constructing a pacified humanity".
The Pope went on: "Without this transcendent foundation, which is God, society risks becoming a mere aggregation of neighbours, and it ceases to be a community of brothers and sisters called to form one great family".
"May the Lord help you to carry out your profession", Benedict XVI concluded, "remaining ever faithful to the ideals which must constantly inspire it. Society needs people who do their duty and are aware that all work, all service conscientiously undertaken, contributes to building a more just and a truly free society".
AC/INSPECTORATE PUBLIC SECURITY/... VIS 20080111 (450)
He expressed his best wishes for 2008, which he also extended to the members of their families, and he recalled how his Message for World Peace Day this year had as its theme: "The Human Family, a Community of Peace".
Quoting from the text of the Message, the Pope indicated that "the natural family, as an intimate communion of life and love based on marriage between a man and a woman, constitutes 'the primary place of humanisation for the person and society', ... the prototype of every social order".
"In your daily role of vigilance", he told his listeners, "you meet no small number of families. They arrive here from all over the world to pay homage to the Apostles, and in particular to St. Peter upon whose faith Christ founded the Church. They come to renew together their profession of this faith, ... to participate in audiences and celebrations presided by the Apostle Peter's Successor".
The Holy Father thanked the officers of the General Inspectorate for Public Security for their "constant interest in people and in the motives that animate them", as well as for their "willingness, patience and spirit of sacrifice", and he invited them to seek in each pilgrim "the face of a brother or a sister whom God has put in your path, a friend yet unknown, ... in the knowledge that we are all part of the one great human family".
"This is why", he continued, "it is essential for each of us to commit ourselves to living with an attitude of responsibility towards God, recognising in Him the ultimate source of our own life and the lives of others. By returning to this supreme Principle it is possible to perceive the unconditional worth of each human being, and it is thanks to such awareness that we can lay the foundations for constructing a pacified humanity".
The Pope went on: "Without this transcendent foundation, which is God, society risks becoming a mere aggregation of neighbours, and it ceases to be a community of brothers and sisters called to form one great family".
"May the Lord help you to carry out your profession", Benedict XVI concluded, "remaining ever faithful to the ideals which must constantly inspire it. Society needs people who do their duty and are aware that all work, all service conscientiously undertaken, contributes to building a more just and a truly free society".
AC/INSPECTORATE PUBLIC SECURITY/... VIS 20080111 (450)
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