ADDRESS OF POPE FRANCIS
TO THE GENTLEMEN OF THE PAPAL HOUSEHOLD
AND THEIR FAMILIES

Clementine Hall
Friday, 10 January 2014

Dear Friends,

I greet you all and I thank you for your service, which consists in welcoming and accompanying the many dignitaries who come to meet the Successor of Peter, as well as being present at official ceremonies and receptions. Dear Gentlemen, the various authorities and other dignitaries who come to visit the See of Peter have their first contact with, and form their first impression of, this Household through you. As your title indicates, the qualities of gentility and friendliness go with your role of setting people at ease. These human qualities find their most authentic source in a life inspired by faith, which gives a testimony that is consistent with the Gospel and untainted by a worldly manner.

We are already at the end of the Christmas Season and we all have been moved by the wonder of God made Child in the Grotto of Bethlehem, by the amazement that the Son of God became, for love of us, the Son of Mary, that he made himself small and fragile. We should be vigilant and pray that this interior light does not fade and that we can carry in our daily life, in the family and at work, the joy of the faith, which is expressed in charity, in benevolence and in tenderness.

I entrust to Mary, the Mother of God and our Mother, all of you and your families, that she may accompany and sustain you. I bless you and I wish you a peaceful and prosperous year. And let us pray for one another!