Pope Francis' Message to President of the Governorate of Vatican City State

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POPE FRANCIS’ MESSAGE

To His Most Reverend Eminence

The Lord Cardinal GIUSEPPE BERTELLO

President of the Governorate

Of Vatican City State

Most Reverend Eminence,

On the date of August 30, 2013, I appointed the Reverend Father Fernando Vergez Alzaga, LC, Secretary General of the Governorate of Vatican City State. He is called, therefore, to carry out all the administrative functions inherent in that office, to coordinate and control the work of the various offices that make up the above-mentioned Governorate, and to watch over the activity of the collaborators and dependents of Vatican City State.

There is no doubt that the dependents of the Governorate are a conspicuous part, in their different sectors, of that particular community of work constituted of men and women, priests, Religious and laity, who spend themselves  in the various Dicasteries and Offices at the service of the Holy See.

In keeping with the Letter of the Supreme Pontiff John Paul II, about the meaning of the work done for the Apostolic See (November 20, 1982), this community has first of all a “unitary” character “also in the different tasks.” It must keep very present the principal truths of Catholic Doctrine on human work and, at the same time, the peculiar connection with the Apostolic See, being in immediate contact with the Successor of Peter.

From the specific nature of the Apostolic See — which has a spiritual and pastoral mission in favor of the Church of Rome and of the universal Church –, stems the special responsibility of those who are linked to it by work and the commitment of scrupulous fidelity to all the tasks and duties assigned in industriousness, professionalism and honesty of life.

Pope John Paul II adds in the aforementioned Letter that “the dependents of the Holy See, therefore, must have the profound conviction that their work entails first of all an ecclesial responsibility to be lived in a spirit of genuine faith and that the juridical-administrative aspects of the relation with the same Apostolic See are placed in a particular light.”

That being said, it is for the Secretary General of the Governorate to take care in a direct way the human and Christian formation of the dependents and collaborators, to coordinate the priests in charge of spiritual assistance that are already present in the various sectors, to promote timely initiatives, especially in concomitance with the pastoral programs of the universal Church and in intense times of the liturgical year.

In consideration of such tasks, I decided to elevate to the episcopal order the Reverend Father Fernando Vergez Alzaga, LC.

So much I communicate to Your Most Reverend Eminence, with my Apostolic Blessing.

From the Vatican, October 7, 2013, Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of the Rosary

FRANCIS