"Dear friends, at the end of these two weeks, spent here in the beautiful land of the Dolomites, I can just thank all of you, and each of you, with all my heart, for your service and your commitment. Your silent, discreet and competent presence, night and day, gave me time for a period of unforgettable rest, of body and soul". This morning, with those words, Pope Benedict XVI took leave of the civil authorities of Cadore, at the end of a period of vacation in Lorenzago, starting last July 9th. The Pope wanted to thank the civil, military and ecclesiastical authorities, thanking "each of you, for this commitment in time of holidays. In the Book of Psalms he added, – we read ‘your goodness, my Lord, surrounds me like the eternal dead’. Here, we are surrounded by this divine goodness, which we can see in the beauty of the mountain. However, in all this time, above all, I was surrounded by human goodness, by your goodness, which accompanied me all the time. For me, you were really guardian angels, invisible, silent, but always present, and available. This memory of your presence in all these days remains in my mind". The Pope left Lorenzago to reach the Papal residence of Castel Gandolfo.
