Pope Francis thanks Cardinal Bertone for years of service
October 15, 2013: Pope Francis sent a message of thanks and held a farewell ceremony
for the Vatican’s Secretary of State emeritus, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, SDB, on
Tuesday. The 78 year-old Cardinal Bertone served in the office from his appointment
by Benedict XVI in June of 2006. In remarks to the gathered officials and staff of
the Secretariat of State of the Holy See, the Secretary emeritus remembered the seven
years’ service and more with his collaborators, who, he said, “[served with] dedication
and sometimes with sacrifice.” He thanked Pope Francis for his benevolence and offered
best wishes to his successor as Secretary, Archbishop Pietro Parolin, who was not
in attendance due to a medical procedure and is due to assume his duties.
Pope
Francis spoke briefly to thank Cardinal Bertone, saying, “[I]n teaching, in your ministry
as diocesan bishop, and in your service in the Curia, including your service as Secretary
of State, it seems that the fil rouge was constituted precisely by that Salesian priestly
vocation, which has signed your life from earliest childhood, and which has brought
you to carry out all of the assignments you have received, without exception, with
profound love for the Church, great generosity, and with that typical[ly] Salesian
mixture that unites a sincere spirit of obedience and a great liberty of initiative
and personal inventiveness.”
The Holy Father concluded with expressions of
gratitude to the whole Secretariat of State, asking everyone present for continued
prayers and assuring them of his own.