VATICAN (CWNews.com) -- At a special Jubilee celebration for the Roman Curia, Pope John Paul II reminded Vatican officials that "the ministry of Peter is not founded on the capacities and energies of human beings."

    The Holy Father made his remarks to 4,000 workers from the Roman Curia, who were gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for their Jubilee observance. The date of that observance had an obvious significance: February 22, the feast of the Chair of St. Peter.

    "The ministry of Peter is founded on the prayer of Christ, who asked the Father that Simon's faith would not fail," the Pope said. Peter's ministry is unique, he continued, because " in spite of his sinfulness and his limitations, Christ chose him and called him to a very high role-- that of being the basis of the visible unity of the Church, and of strengthening his brothers in the faith." In a sense, the Pontiff said, "the experience of human weakness in Peters is a great help to us," since it provides an example and a motivation for "true interior purification."

    The celebration in St. Peter's Basilica concluded the Jubilee observance for the Curia. That Jubilee had begun on the preceding evening, with a penitential service at which the Franciscan Father Raniero Cantalamessa preached a meditation. Then in the morning the members of the Curia formed a long procession in St. Peter's Square, entering the basilica through the Holy Door for the Mass. There are just over 4,000 people working in the Curia-- of whom 2,581 work directly for the Holy See and another 1,477 for the Vatican city-state. Among those reporting directly to the Holy See, lay people outnumber priests and religious by a small margin: 1449- 1132. Among those who work for the government of the Vatican, lay people predominate by 1403- 74.