“Through your Work you Witness Concretely the Evangelical Ideals,” Pope Francis told the Benefactors of the Foundation of the Pontifical Swiss Guard on September 25, 2017 during an audience in the Hall of the Consistory.
The Holy Father thanks members of the two Helvetian Foundations, which offer “offer financial, material and technical support to the Pontifical Swiss Guard.” He noted that in doing so they “express a communal and reliable spirit…typical of the presence of Catholics in the society.”
Pope Francis continued: “I wish to express to you my gratitude for your solicitude in your dealings with the meritorious Swiss Guard Corps.” And he remarked of the Guards that “their discreet, professional and generous presence is greatly appreciated and useful for the good outcome of the Vatican’s activities”.
Here is a ZENIT translation of the Pope’s address to those present at the audience.
Dear Brothers and Sisters!
I’m happy to receive you and to greet each one of you, members of the two Helvetian Foundations’ objective to offer financial, material and technical support to the Pontifical Swiss Guard. I greet the respective Presidents, Jean-Pierre Roth and Pascal Couchepin, and I’m grateful for the courteous expressions addressed to me. You are gathered here on the occasion of the official inauguration of the new headquarters of the operational center, to whose realization you contributed generously. I’m grateful for this visit, which happens on the day that you celebrate your Patron Saint Nicholas of Flue, the sixth centenary of whose birth is being observed. At the same time, I wish to express to you my gratitude for your solicitude in your dealings with the meritorious Swiss Guard Corps and for the profitable cooperation established with its Command and with the competent Vatican Authorities.
In carrying out your activity, you express a communal and reliable spirit – to which President Couchepin made reference –, typical of the presence of Catholics in the society. Such an attitude finds its roots in the evangelical call to love of neighbor (Cf. Mark 12:31) and fosters the surmounting of social differences and tensions among different groups. Therefore, through your work you witness concretely the evangelical ideals and, in the Swiss social fabric, you are an example of fraternity and sharing.
Love of neighbor corresponds to the command and example of Christ if it is founded on a true love of God. Thus it’s possible for a Christian, through his dedication, to make others experience the provident tenderness of the celestial Father. To give love to brothers it’s necessary, in fact, to” draw it from the furnace of divine charity, through prayer, listening to the Word of God and the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist. With these spiritual references it’s possible to work in the logic of gratuitousness and service.
I thank you again for all that you do in favor of so many Swiss young people, who decide to spend some years of their life at the service of the Church and of the Holy See. This occasion is propitious for me to confirm that their discreet, professional and generous presence is greatly appreciated and useful for the good outcome of the Vatican’s activities.
May the Holy Virgin and Saint Nicholas of Flue protect you and your families and make you increasingly witnesses of faith and of goodness. For you here present and for all those that support your praiseworthy activity in support of the Pontifical Swiss Guard, I express the wish that you continue joyfully your fruitful commitment and, while I ask you, please, to pray for me, I impart to you with affection the Apostolic Blessing.
[Original text: Italian] [ZENIT’s translation by Virginia M. Forrester]
JF
