Guard your hearts and support one another, Pope preaches to Vatican Gendarmerie Corps

October 05, 2026

Pope Leo XIV celebrated Mass for the members of the Vatican City State’s Gendarmerie Corps and encouraged them to guard their hearts and take care of one another.

At the October 3 evening Mass, which took place at the Lourdes Grotto of the Vatican Gardens, the Pontiff applied the Scripture readings to the Corps, which provides police and security services.

The Corps members’ service “is a way of being workers in the Lord’s vineyard,” Pope Leo preached. “What we receive is a responsibility to be guarded with humility and dedication, to be lived with discretion and a sense of duty. You know well that authority, in the light of the Gospel, is expressed above all in the ability to guard, listen and accompany, with balance, firmness and respect.”

The Pope continued:

Your work certainly asks you to be vigilant, but today’s Word invites you to something even deeper: to watch over yourselves with care. To guard the heart, so that it does not harden but is always docile to God and attentive to others; to guard your conscience, so that it may continue to guide you with righteousness; to preserve fraternity among you, so that each one can feel welcomed, supported and never alone. Because a group truly becomes a “community” when its members take care of each other and learn to walk together, supporting each other with simplicity and love.

“Let us entrust all this to Our Lady,” Pope Leo concluded. “May Mary, woman of care and trust, accompany your families and each one of you. And we ask St. Michael the Archangel to be close to you in your vigilance and in the fight against all evil. May he protect you in your service and help you to remain faithful, so that the Lord Jesus may always be at the center of your life, your service and your heart.”

 

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Further information:

• 27th Sunday in Ordinary Time – Holy Mass for the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps of Vatican City State (Dicastery for Communication - Vatican Media, 10/3/26)
• Pope Leo celebrates Mass for members of the Vatican Gendarmerie Corps (Vatican News, 10/3/26)