“May your finest badge be a heart that knows how to protect”
These were the words of Pope Leo XIV during his homily at the Mass celebrated at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens for the Gendarmerie Corps on Saturday afternoon, 3 October, on the occasion of the feast of its Patron Saint Michael the Archangel.
As every year, the Gendarmes and their families gathered around the Pope to take part in the Eucharistic Celebration and honor their Patron Saint. The Pontiff told them: “Places, entrances and buildings are entrusted to your care, but above all, people.” He then emphasized that one quality that stands out when encountering the Gendarmes is precisely “care: it is beautiful to see how you regard others not as problems to be solved, but as persons to be respected and protected.”
Commenting on the parable of the tenants in the Gospel according to Matthew, the Pope observed that “what we receive is a responsibility to be safeguarded with humility and dedication, and exercised with discretion and a sense of duty.” Authority, “in the light of the Gospel, is expressed first and foremost in the ability to protect, listen and accompany, with balance, steadfastness and respect.” Hence his invitation to “first safeguard within yourselves truth, justice, goodness and respect. Protecting others requires a heart that is itself protected by the Lord.”
Pope Leo concluded by thanking the families of the Gendarmes: “This year too, I would like to conclude with a thought of affection and gratitude for your families. To your parents, wives, children and fiancées: thank you! You know the sacrifices, the absences, the demanding schedules, the concerns and also the burden of a service that is not always visible.”
At the time of the consecration, Cardinals Fernando Vérgez Alzaga and Giuseppe Bertello, Presidents Emeriti of the Governorate of Vatican City State, Archbishop Emilio Nappa, Secretary General, and Fr Franco Fontana, Chaplain of the Directorate of Security and Civil Protection Services and of the Vatican Museums, joined the Pope at the altar. At the conclusion of the Mass, Fr Fontana addressed a brief greeting to the Pontiff.
Before the Eucharistic Celebration, fifteen new recruits had taken their oath in the presence of the Pope, for the first time. Among those attending were Cardinals Vérgez, Bertello and Víctor Manuel Fernández, Prefect of the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, as well as the governing authorities of the Governorate of Vatican City State: Sr Raffaella Petrini, President, Archbishop Emilio Nappa and Giuseppe Puglisi-Alibrandi, Secretaries General.
Also present were Archbishop Peter Rajič, Prefect of the Papal Household, Fr Edward Daniang Daleng, Regent of the Prefecture of the Papal Household, Gianluca Gauzzi Broccoletti Commander of the Gendarmerie Corps and Davide Giulietti, Deputy Commander.
Members of the Association of Retired Gendarmes and the Band of the Gendarmerie Corps also took part in the celebration.
