Vatican City, Jun 11, 2012 / 11:17 am
Pope Benedict XVI told the Vatican's diplomatic school that "faithfulness" is a key virtue for anybody working in the service of the Holy See.
"Certainly, this is something which ought to apply to every Catholic, and even more to every priest. Yet for those who work in the Holy See, it is of particular importance, since they spend much of their energy, their time and their daily ministry in the service of the Successor of Peter," he told the students and staff of the Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy on June 11.
The Pontifical Ecclesiastical Academy is the training school for the Vatican's diplomatic service. In recent months the internal bureaucracy of the Holy See has been rocked by the ongoing disclosure of confidential papal documents to the media. Many of the leaks seemed aimed at the Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, who is directly in charge of the diplomatic service.
In his speech to the future diplomats at the Apostolic Palace, the Pope repeatedly stressed the need for faithfulness among those employed by the Vatican.