Pope greets Castel Gandolfo staff
(Vatican Radio) Pope Benedict XVI greeted the staff of the Pontifical Villas at Castel
Gandolfo on Friday afternoon, ahead of his return to the Vatican at the end of the
summer months. In what has become a traditional greeting and leave-taking at the end
of the Pope’s sojourn in the ancient hill town outside Rome, Pope Benedict XVI thanked
all those who work to make the Papal summer retreat at Castel Gandolfo safe, pleasant
and relaxing. “Everything passes in this world!” he said. “So it is also with serene
and peaceful time,” as he described the months from July through the end of the present
month of September, which the Holy Father spent in, “the beautiful setting of Castel
Gandolfo,” where, the Holy Father went on to say he could, “breathe a family atmosphere
and great cordiality.” Listen to our report: 
Thanking the Director Director General of the Pontifical Villas, Dr. Saverio Petrillo, and greeting all the employees and their families, the Holy Father prayed that the Lord, “full of goodness, bless [them] and keep [them] in His love!”
Pope Benedict also looked ahead to his upcoming visit to Loreto, to mark the 50th anniversary of the pilgrimage of Blessed John XXIII to the Marian shrine in order to entrust the Second Vatican Council to Mary; he also looked forward to the Synod of Bishops, which will reflect on the New Evangelization in the Church and in the world. Finally - in the 50th year since the beginning of the Council – Pope Benedict said he looks forward to the opening of the Year of Faith, which he said he established, “[T]o help everyone to open wide his heart and his life to the Lord Jesus and the Word of salvation.”
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