Vatican City - This morning, Sunday 8 February 2026, Pope Leo XIV received, in the Apostolic Palace in the Clementine Hall, the management and staff of the Floreria and the Building Office of the Vatican City State, together with their families, shortly before the Angelus in St Peter’s Square.
It is part of a cycle of audiences the Holy Father is devoting to his collaborators, men and women who, often far from the spotlight, ensure the day-to-day running of this State and support the ministry of the Successor of Peter. Last Sunday Leo XIV met the Gentlemen of His Holiness, the Antechamber Assistants and the Papal Chair-bearers. This morning the Pope first sought to set out the concrete meaning of their work within the ordinary rhythm of life in this small State, the care of spaces and services that, for millions of faithful, become an experience of Church. In his greeting he thanked them for the dedication shown, with an explicit reference to the Jubilee Year that has just concluded, when, he recalled, thanks also to the organisation and professionalism of these sectors, “millions of pilgrims” were able to pass through the Holy Door and take part in celebrations and events in an orderly way.
The heart of the address, however, shifted attention from a balance sheet to a horizon, gratitude as responsibility for future projects, including the updating of technical and logistical services and the care of Vatican environments, especially those linked to prayer and encounters with the Pope. Leo XIV drew a direct link between decorum and security and an ecclesial purpose: sustaining the devotion of the faithful and the pastoral work of the Church. In this light, he described their commitment as a “discreet and precious service”, able to shape, without clamour, the concrete welcome offered to faith.
St Peter’s Basilica, a place of prayer
The Pope referred to two symbolic places, and one cannot pretend not to notice his words: “In particular, St Peter’s Basilica is a sacred place that must be safeguarded first and foremost as a temple of contemplation, recollection and spiritual wonder.” It is a line that will have made Cardinal Mauro Gambetti’s ears ring, given that in recent years he has imposed events, aperitifs, dinners, media tours and now yet another act of disfigurement, work on the dome to expand the bar. Leo XIV put it plainly: St Peter’s is a sacred place and must be guarded as a temple of contemplation and recollection. And so, looking at what continues to happen inside the Basilica, mobbing of employees, threats and retaliation, profanations and acts of vandalism, it is necessary that, before long, the appointment be made of another Archpriest of the Basilica and Vicar General for the Vatican City State. Gambetti was appointed by Pope Francis on 20 February 2021: for five years the Franciscan friar, who has nothing Franciscan about him, has run St Peter’s as though it were the National Gallery of Torvaianica (Rome).
Then, this morning, the Pope also spoke of the square: “the square in front, which embraces the world with its splendid colonnade, is the ‘calling card’, as people say, of our welcome towards everyone.” A square which, instead, in recent years Gambetti has turned into the stage for his events: one flop after another, from scarves that filled the square and fluttered everywhere, in open contradiction to the ecology so loudly proclaimed, to initiatives with very little participation, on which, nevertheless, millions have been burned.
In the service of the Successor of St Peter
In the Clementine Hall, Leo XIV urged employees to unite work with spiritual intention, carrying into everyday tasks the memory of the people who pass through those places: “faith and prayer give full meaning” to what is done each day. To understand, also at an institutional level, who the audience was for, it is enough to look at the architecture of the Governorate set out by the Law on the Government of the Vatican City State. The Floreria and the Building Office sit within the Directorate for Infrastructures and Services: the Building Office falls under the Infrastructures sector (alongside, among others, planning and design offices, plant engineering and procurement), while the Floreria is placed within the Gardens and Environment service. The same law assigns to the Directorate responsibilities ranging from the design and execution of works to the maintenance of buildings and systems, through to the protection of the environment and the care of gardens and shared spaces.
Greeting the employees, Leo XIV imparted his blessing, reiterating a key image: in each person’s work, especially “in moments of trial”, one is part of a single body oriented to the witness of the Gospel. It is a message by which the Pope recalled to substance those who work in the Vatican. Working here is not a title to be displayed or a reason for boasting: it means taking on the concrete care of spaces and services as an ecclesial responsibility, in the service of the Church’s mission. And that alone ought to become a criterion of style and behaviour, cutting at the root internal feuds, gossip and complaints that poison daily work and drain meaning from what is done.
fr.C.T.
Silere non possum