Evangelization in the world of human mobility: Cardinal Veglio

June 12, 2012: The mission of the Church is to make Jesus and his Gospel known “so that every man may discover in his human face the Face of God, and be illumined by his mystery of love”, said Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People. He was addressing some 100 civil aviation chaplains and chaplaincy members on Tuesday at their world seminar in Rome. The four-day seminar began Monday on the theme, “The New Evangelization in the Field of Civil Aviation”.
Speaking on ‘New Evangelization in the World of Human Mobility’ , Cardinal Veglio said that ‘for centuries, the Church has not spared forces and means so the proclamation of the Good News. ‘In our times, there are real attempts to remove God and the Church’s teachings from the various spheres of life. There is even an attempt to eliminate all the social and symbolic visibility of the Christian faith. Our international airport stations, home to the airport communities, are not immune from this reality!’ the Cardinal pointed out.All of us Christians are therefore called to be evangelizers in the milieu where we live and work. Entrusted in a special way to our Dicastery is the sphere of human mobility which is an aspect of globalization. It has produced an unprecedented mingling of persons and peoples, bringing with it issues of ethical, religious and spiritual nature.

This is the context in which the Church today is called to carry out its evangelizing mission. It is necessary to give Christians, who find themselves in the human mobility milieu, all the help possible so that they may remain steadfast in their faith and coherent in their Christian life. In this way, they can give witness to the Gospel and themselves become authentic heralds of Christ’s message.
The 15^th World Conference of Civil aviation Chaplains to be held in Rome from 11 to 14 June, organized by the Pontifical Council for Pastoral Care for Migrants and Itinerant people. Over one hundred participants from 32 international airports in 15 countries, from Europe, the Americas and Africa, are the 4-day Conference.