Pope Benedict XVI on Monday met with airport chaplains on the first day of the XV
World Seminar for Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy Members.
The
five-day meeting is sponsored by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants
and Itinerant People , and is discussing the topic “The New Evangelization in the
Field of Civil Aviation”.
“Always be conscious that you are called to embody
in the world’s airports the Church’s mission of bringing God to man and leading man
to the encounter with God,” said the Holy Father. “Airports are places that increasingly
reflect the globalized reality of our time.”
Pope Benedict also pointed out
the difficult human situations facing people in airports, including migrants without
necessary documentation waiting anxiously to pass through border controls and the
inconvenience caused by anti-terrorism security measures.
He said often more
attention is paid to efficiency and productivity than to the love of neighbour and
the solidarity that should always characterize human relations.
In addition,
airport communities also reflect the crisis of faith that affects many people.
“This
is the human and spiritual environment in which you are called to proclaim the Good
News with renewed vigour by your words, by your presence, by your example and by the
witness you bear,” he told the chaplains. “Be assured that even in chance encounters,
people are able to recognize a man of God, and that often a small seed falling on
good soil can bring forth abundant fruit.” Listen:
************ THE
HOLY FATHER’S ADDRESS TO CIVIL AVIATION CHAPLAINS AND CHAPLAINCY MEMBERS
Monday
11 June 2012
Your Eminence, Dear Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy
Members, Dear brothers and sisters, I am happy to welcome you at the beginning
of the XV World Seminar for Catholic Civil Aviation Chaplains and Chaplaincy Members,
promoted by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant
People on the topic “The New Evangelization in the Field of Civil Aviation”. I extend
a warm greeting to the President of the Dicastery, Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò,
and I thank him for the words which he has addressed to me. I greet affectionately
all of you who are taking part in these days of prayer, study and exchange, with a
view to reaffirming and deepening the spiritual motives that inspire you to continue
your specific ecclesial service with renewed zeal and enthusiasm. I am pleased
to hear that during this Seminar, with the assistance of expert speakers, you intend
to reflect on new methods and new forms of evangelization in your area of ministry.
Dear friends, always be conscious that you are called to embody in the world’s airports
the Church’s mission of bringing God to man and leading man to the encounter with
God. Airports are places that increasingly reflect the globalized reality of our
time. Here one finds people of a wide variety of nationalities, cultures, religions,
social status and age. One also comes across all manner of difficult human situations
that demand increasing attention. I think, for example, of people waiting anxiously
as they seek to pass through border controls without the necessary documentation,
either as immigrants or asylum seekers. I think of the inconvenience caused by anti-terrorism
security measures. Airport communities also reflect the crisis of faith that affects
many people, with the result that the content of Christian doctrine and the values
that it teaches are no longer regarded as points of reference, even in countries with
a long tradition of ecclesial life. This is the human and spiritual environment in
which you are called to proclaim the Good News with renewed vigour by your words,
by your presence, by your example and by the witness you bear. Be assured that even
in chance encounters, people are able to recognize a man of God, and that often a
small seed falling on good soil can bring forth abundant fruit. In airports, moreover,
you have daily contact with a great many men and women who work in an environment
marked by continuous mobility and constant technological development, both of which
tend to obscure the centrality of the human person. Often more attention is paid
to efficiency and productivity than to the love of neighbour and the solidarity that
should always characterize human relations. Here too, your presence is of great value
and importance: it is a living witness to a God who is close to human beings, and
it serves as a reminder never to show indifference to those one meets, but to treat
them generously and lovingly. I encourage you to be radiant signs of this charity
of Christ which brings serenity and peace. Dear friends, make sure that every person,
of whatever nationality or social background, can find in you a welcoming heart, able
to listen and understand. Through your Christian and priestly lives, may everyone
experience something of the love that comes from God, drawing them to a renewed and
deeper relationship with Christ, who speaks without fail to those who open up to him
trustfully, especially in prayer. Hence the importance of airport chapels as places
of silence and spiritual solace. In this pastoral service, your model and protector
is the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom you venerate under the title of Our Lady of Loreto,
the patron saint of all who travel by air, in accordance with the tradition that attributes
to the angels the transportation of Mary’s house from Nazareth to Loreto. But there
is another “flight”, of far greater significance for humanity, to which that Holy
House bears witness, namely the journey of the Archangel Gabriel, who brought to Mary
the joyful news that she was to be the Mother of the Son of the Most High (cf. Lk
1:26-32). In this way the Eternal One entered into time, God became man and came
to dwell among us (cf. Jn 1:14). It is the manifestation of God’s infinite love for
his creation. While we were still sinners, God sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to redeem
us with his death and resurrection. He did not remain “on high” but became immersed
in the joys and anxieties of the men and women of his time and of all time, sharing
in their lot and restoring their hope. This is the mission of the Church, to proclaim
Jesus Christ, the one Saviour of the world, “a mission”, in the words of the Servant
of God, Pope Paul VI, “which the vast and profound changes of present-day society
make all the more urgent” (cf. Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14). Indeed, in our own times,
we too “feel the urgent need to give a fresh impetus and new approaches to the work
of evangelization in a world in which the breaking down of frontiers and the new processes
of globalization are bringing individuals and peoples even closer. This is both because
of the development of the means of social communication and because of the frequency
and ease with which individuals and groups can move about today.” (Message for the
2012 World Day of Migrants and Refugees). Dear Brothers, may your daily encounter
with the Lord Jesus in the Eucharist and in personal prayer give you the enthusiasm
and the strength to be heralds of the newness of the Gospel, which transforms hearts
and makes all things new. Be assured of my remembrance in prayer, that you may be
effective instruments in assisting those entrusted to your pastoral care to cross
the “porta fidei”, accompanying them in their encounter with Christ, who is living
and active among us. With these sentiments, I willingly impart to you my Apostolic
Blessing, which I extend to all who share in your ministry and to all who belong to
the vast world of civil aviation.