” “"It is somehow a sad moment but above all one of deep gratitude". At the end of the ceremony for the handing over of the office of Secretary of State from card. Angelo Sodano to card. Tarcisio Bertone held in Castel Gandolfo today Benedict XVI spoke "off the cuff" and thanked again the resigning Secretary, of whom he recognised "the devotion, competence and will to serve”. Then, he mentioned "all the staff" and the "Papal delegations across the world", a great "network of collaborators" that enables the Church and the Pope to fulfil the task given them by the Lord. “Over the last few years added the Holy Father as he also recalled the experience at the helm of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith I have got to understand better and better what great skills are present here, what a great devotion, what a humbleness and what a will to really serve the Lord in his Church". A curial activity that "in fact is a pastoral work in the pre-eminent sense specified Benedict XVI because it helps guide the people of God on the grassy pastures, as the Psalm goes, where the Word of God is present and feeds us throughout our life”. ” “
