(April 15, 2011) The Vatican has felicitated circus workers and expressed the Church’s
closeness with them saying they are integral to the human culture. Archbishop Antonio
Maria Vegliò, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care
of Migrants and Itinerant Workers sent a message on Friday to Urs Pilz, president
of the World Circus Federation on the occasion of the second World Circus Day being
observed on Saturday, April 16. The archbishop said he was rendering homage to all
the circus artistes, workers and those engaged in the security of performers and spectators,
stressing that the Church wants to make known the great contribution of circus as
vital to human culture. He said the world congress on the pastoral care of the circus
people that his office organized last December, is proof of the motherly solicitude
of the Church for the world of circus that creates privileged spaces to break solitude
and overcome anonymity in order to appreciate the beauty of games and shows, athletic
and artistic exercises and revive hope bringing interior peace amidst suffering, anxiety
and frustrations of life. The archbishop said the Church recognizes the social, cultural
and pedagogical values of circuses that create extraordinary spaces for congregating,
thus favouring socialization and help develop creativity and imagination He recalled
late Pope John Paul II who said the greatness of this environment consists in “helping
bloom the smile of a child and for a moment lighting up the desperate face of a person,
and through the show and fun bring men closer to one another. Archbishop Veglio
urged states and governments of their duty to protect the rights of circus people
so that they feel themselves an integral part of society in every way.