SPEECH OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO THE VATICAN SERVICE SERVICE PERSONNEL AND VATICAN TELEPHONE SERVICE
OF THE DIRECTORATE OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS, WITH FAMILIES
Sala Clementina
Thursday, 6 June 2019
Dear brothers and sisters!
I address my cordial welcome to each of you. I greet Cardinal Giuseppe Bertello, President of the Governorate, and I thank him for his words. I greet Archbishop Fernando Vérgez, Secretary General and Director of Telecommunications; Don Attilio Riva, head of the Vatican Post Office Service; Brother Andrea Mellini, head of the Vatican Telephone Service. The meeting with you, employees of the Post and Telephones, offers me the opportunity to express my gratitude to you, with a grateful thought also to your families.
The activity of the Post and Vatican Telephones far exceeds the small territory and the small population residing in it: it opens up to the needs of innumerable people scattered throughout the world. Precisely for this reason, the Vatican and the Holy See recognize the important role of the media and international organizations that encourage communication. The Popes have always attached great importance to the communication with the heads of state, with the communities and the individual faithful of the different nations, making use of the means offered by the technique. In the last decades, two well-deserving religious families have called for collaboration in this very significant sector: the Sons of Divine Providence (Orionini) and the Society of San Paolo (Paolini). My great appreciation for their generosity and fidelity goes to these two Institutes.
Your daily work, even if apparently humble, is more necessary than ever for the proper functioning of the Vatican City State. It serves the activity of the Successor of Peter, ensuring freedom of communication and expression, through a physical network, equipped with modern and functional tools. Moreover, through your precious work, many people "reach" the Pope and he, even through his collaborators, "reaches" many people every day. This communicative interchange does not know distances; responds to the innate need of individuals to make human contacts; and above all it enters all homes serving rich and poor. In this regard, I like to recall an ancient Latin inscription engraved on a letterbox of the Papal States: "Diviti et inopi, ultro citroque, meandum", which means: "I must go to the rich and the poor, everywhere".
In compliance with international norms and agreements, your realities speak a common language, creating bridges between cultures, religions and societies that are different from each other. At the same time, the Post and Vatican Telephone Services guarantee the sharing of feelings and ideas, contribute to promoting mutual understanding and collaboration between countries on different continents, facilitating exchanges of both goods and, above all, their respective spiritual values and cultural. In this sense, the postal and telephone services of one of the smallest countries in the world favor the spread of the Christian message. It is an activity in which you are all involved and all important: because the good functioning of the Post and the Phones, you know well, depends on the contribution of each one.
In your tasks, many of you are in direct contact with people: how important your trait is then your example to offer everyone a simple but incisive Christian witness! The fact of working in the Vatican constitutes an extra commitment to cultivate one's faith. In this regard, in addition to the active participation in the life of your parish communities, useful help is also offered by moments of celebration and spiritual formation animated by your spiritual assistants, whom I thank for their dedication. Above all, I invite you to ensure that each of your families is a "small Church", in which faith and life are intertwined in the unfolding of happy and sad everyday events.
Dear friends, I renew my cordial gratitude to each one and encourage you to continue your journey with joy and confidence. May the Virgin Mary, Saint Luigi Orione and Blessed James Alberione help you to live in constant thanksgiving, enjoying the simple joys that God gives us and multiplying good works. I assure my remembrance for you and bless you with affection together with all your loved ones. And please don't forget to pray for me. Thank you!
Full Text + Image Source: Shared from Vatican.va - Unofficial Translation
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