Vatican City, Apr 24, 2009 / 19:15 pm
During his homily at a Mass on Thursday for members of the Vatican public security service, Secretary of State Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone encouraged them to carry out their duties “with dedication and love, with equity and balance, with a sense of responsibility and concern for the common good.”
Cardinal Bertone stressed that in today’s nihilistic culture which encourages often “illegal and illicit” forms of human behavior, it is necessary that military and police forces also have “a solid faith” in order to “take a position before God.”
According to the L’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Bertone denounced the “pressure and conditioning factors in public opinion” that seek to weaken the testimony of Christians, reducing faith to the private sphere. In response to this situation, he said, “There is no lack of authentic testimonies, true martyrs, men and women ready to bear witness, at the expense of their lives, of their fidelity to Christ.”
The cardinal thanked the security officials for their daily service at the Vatican and in St. Peter’s Square, thus facilitating “the encounter between the Pope and numerous pilgrims who arrive from all parts of the world.”