|
VATICAN CITY (CNS)—Those who have a job this Christmas should be thankful and should reach out to help their neighbors who are less fortunate, Pope Benedict XVI said.
"With Christmas approaching, my thoughts naturally turn to the employment crisis that is worrying all humanity today," the pope said Dec. 19 during a meeting with officials of the Vatican's Central Labor Office.
"Those who have the possibility of working should be thankful to God and open their hearts with generosity toward those who find themselves with employment and economic difficulties," the pope said.
Pope Benedict prayed that Jesus would watch over those suffering because of the global economic crisis and inspire new acts of solidarity among all people.
Pope John Paul II established the Vatican labor office Jan. 1, 1989, to oversee the rights of Vatican employees and settle disputes between employees and supervisors. The Vatican, including the Roman Curia and Vatican City State, employs more than 4,500 people, the majority of whom are laity.
In addition to settling disputes and "promoting a correct application of the principles of social justice," Pope Benedict said the office also should ensure opportunities for the ongoing education of employees and work to improve the efficiency of the Vatican work force.
"I want to underline that the community of work made up of those who operate in various offices and organisms of the Holy See forms a single family whose members are united not only by functional ties, but by the same mission, which is to assist the successor of Peter in his ministry at the service of the universal church," he said.
"The professional activity they undertake is a vocation to be cultivated with care and with an evangelical spirit," he said.
Vatican employees should see their duties as "a concrete path toward holiness," the pope said.
"This requires that love for Christ and for one's brothers and sisters, together with a shared sense of church, should animate and give life to competency and dedication, professionalism, an honest and correct commitment and an attentive and mature sense of responsibility, which will turn the work itself into prayer," he said.
|
