Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – This morning, at the headquarters of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People at San Calixto Palace in Rome, a meeting on the Pastoral Care of Tourism today, 40 years after the Directory “Peregrinans in terra.” During the two-day workshop (April 29-30), the Bishops and National Directors of Pastoral Care of Tourism from 20 European nations will share ideas and experiences, with the goal of updating their pastoral guidelines. There will also be several experts and study commissions participating in the reflections.
The theme and date for the Meeting are related to the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the General Directory for Pastoral Care in Tourism, which was published April 30, 1969. This document was the first fruit along the path that the Church had taken in the growing phenomenon of tourism, which after the Second World War, became a global phenomenon. From then on, the Church encouraged spiritual accompaniment and evangelization in the area. The reflections presented in Peregrinans in terra were later revisited in a document of guidelines for Pastoral Care of Tourism, published by the Pontifical Council in 2001.
The European Meeting will also feature the presentation the work “Pontifical Magisterium and Documents of the Holy See on the Pastoral Care of Tourism (1952-2008),” a collection of texts on the area of tourism, which bear witness to the Church's effort to “increase her maternal presence,” which help to understand the various dimensions of the tourism phenomenon.
The workshops were opened by Archbishop Antonio Maria Veglio, President of the Pontifical Council, who explained that these two days are meant to serve in recalling the history of Pastoral Care of Tourism, observing the present, and looking into the future. After having briefly reviewed the intense history of the Holy See's effort in this area, the Archbishop named the main tasks of the Pontifical Council in this pastoral activity: in relationship to tourism in general, visitors to Christian sites, and tourism carried out by the faithful. Then, Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, Secretary of the Pontifical Council, presented the long and arduous path of Pastoral Care for Tourism and observed how the pastoral concerns and attention in this area have changed. In fact, while in the 50s, the focus was mainly on the precept to attend Mass on feast days and Sundays and the possible negative moral influence of tourist activity on the faithful, today there are other concerns that have to do more with ecology and climate changes, ethics in tourism, the fight against poverty and the sexual exploitation of women and minors, or social and responsible tourism. There is also a renewed effort being seen in many tourist sites to take into account the Christian dimension and the “ordinary” pastoral attention to the faithful during vacation times.
Making reference to the magisterial addresses collected in the work “Pontifical Magisterium and Documents of the Holy See on the Pastoral Care of Tourism,” Archbishop Marchetto presented several recurring ideas, in continuity with the Church's thought. These were: tourism as a life experience, the positive pastoral attitude towards the multi-faceted reality, tourism as an area of the Church's mission, Pastoral Care of Tourism as an integral and essential part of ecclesial pastoral care, and the Church's willingness to join its efforts with that of civil institutions and associations in this area.
The other talks on the first day also addressed the situation and challenges of tourism today: The relationship between ethics and tourism; Collaboration between civil entities and the Church in religious tourism. The second day, April 30, will be dedicated to the pastoral response of the Church to modern-day tourism. (SL) (Agenzia Fides 29/4/2009)
