AMERICA/MEXICO - Make good use of the many occasions that tourism offers us to put forward Christ

Cancun (Agenzia Fides) - "Tourism is not only an opportunity but also a right for everyone, that cannot be limited to certain social groups or to specific geographical areas ... Therefore, we must promote conditions that favor the existence of social tourism, where everyone can have access, especially families, youth, students, elderly people and people with disabilities." These are the words of Cardinal Antonio Maria Vegliò, President of the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, in the inaugural speech of the VII World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Tourism, held in Cancun, Mexico, from April 23 to 27, on the theme "A tourism that makes a difference." Cardinal Veglio recalled that "Pope Pius XII was the first pontiff to systematically address the ministry of
tourism", and "since then, the pastoral solicitude of the Church has experienced steady growth in its initiatives, while it has expanded its fields of action."
The World Tourism Organization recorded 980 million international tourist arrivals in the year 2011, a figure that will reach the milestone of one billion within this year. With this growth rate, international tourist arrivals will be two billion by 2030. There is even a higher number regarding tourism at a local level, the Cardinal recalled describing "this important human reality."
Among the positive aspects of tourism, Cardinal Vegliò stressed that "it is a privileged occasion for physical and spiritual renewal; it facilitates the coming together of people from different cultural backgrounds and offers the opportunity of drawing close to nature and hence opening the way to listening and contemplation, tolerance and peace, dialogue and harmony in the midst of diversity. " However there are risks or negative factors, as "tourism can promote dangerous urban and environmental change, the deterioration of cultural heritage, the loss of values and, what is much worse, undermine human dignity."
In his Message sent to Congress, the Holy Father Benedict XVI observed that " travelling offers us the possibility of admiring the beauty of peoples, cultures and nature, can lead us to God and be the occasion of an experience of faith ... On the other hand tourism, like every human reality, is not exempt from dangers, or negative dimensions. We refer to evils that must be dealt with urgently, since they trample upon the rights of millions of men and women, especially among the poor, minors and handicapped. Sexual tourism is one of the most abject forms of these deviations that can devastate morally, psychologically and physically the life of so many people and families and sometimes whole communities. The trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation or organ harvesting as well as exploitation of minors, abandoned into the hands of individuals without scruples and undergoing abuse and torture, sadly happen in the many contexts of tourism. This should bring all who are engaged for pastoral reasons or who work in the field of tourism, as well as the whole international community, to increase their vigilance and to foresee and oppose such aberrations."
The Holy Father then points out three areas on which to focus the ministry of tourism: to reaffirm the right of all humans to be able to enjoy free time and periodic holidays; "offer well-organized visits, with due respect for sacred places and the liturgical action, for which many of these works came into being "; " pastoral activity should care for Christians as they enjoy their vacations and free time in such a way that these will contribute to their human and spiritual growth." The Pope concludes: "The new evangelization, to which all are called, requires us to keep in mind and make good use of the many occasions that tourism offers us to put forward Christ as the supreme response to the modern man’s fundamental questions." (SL) (Agenzia Fides 24/4/2012)