Pope: ‘Authority is in service done with the heart’

I thank you because I see that your service follows this path

© Vatican Media

Holy Mass for the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps at the Lourdes Grotto in the Vatican Gardens

This afternoon, at 5 pm, at the Grotto of Lourdes in the Vatican Gardens, the Holy Father Francis will preside the Eucharistic Celebration for the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps, on the occasion of the feast day of Saint Michael the Archangel, patron, and protector of the Italian State Police and the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps, which is celebrated on 29 September.

In this regard, we recall some of the Pope’s statements to the Gendarmerie: “the path that God has chosen in Jesus Christ to forgive us, to convert us”, is the path of service.  “The path points to humility, closeness, and fraternity”.


Stressing that conversion is an embrace with God, a path of mutual encounter in which what Jesus unfolds from father to prodigal son is unfolded.

The Pope is grateful, of the Vatican Gendarmerie because he sees that his service follows this path.

“Always take this path for the conversion of people and also for your own conversion”