Sunday, 9 January 2000

 

Dear Friends!

I thank the Lord who again this year has given me the opportunity to visit the crib you have prepared, as always, with deep feeling and great creativity. In expressing my gratitude to you for your cordial welcome, I extend a respectful greeting to the Mayor, to the authorities here, to the president, the directors and all the personnel of the Municipal Environmental Agency, as well as to their respective families.

We are at the beginning of the Year 2000, the Jubilee Year, which will see great crowds of pilgrims and visitors coming to this city, as these first days have shown. This will mean increased work for you. Yours is really a very important task for the community:  on your service depends, in no small way, the face that the city offers to those who live in it and those who come from afar. I am sure you will undertake your tasks with a great sense of responsibility, in the desire that the city will always look clean and orderly. Even if this will involve some sacrifice, do it willingly, well aware of what advantages the arrival of pilgrims and tourists brings to the entire urban community.

Thanks to your service Rome will be able, on this occasion too, to live up to the traditions that make it a welcoming and hospitable city. With your cooperation, which certainly requires generous willingness, you will thus make a significant contribution to the success of the Jubilee, and for this I already express my heartfelt gratitude.

May Our Lady always accompany and protect you. To her I entrust you in my prayer, as I sincerely bless you, your work, your families and your loved ones.

Happy New Year and Happy Jubilee!

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