Pope Francis received the Alitalia delegation and thanked them for helping him with his apostolic journey “to strengthen the faith of our brethren, to be close to the suffering, to help those who are committed to peace”.
(Vatican News Network) On the morning of April 14, Pope Francis received the executives and staff of Alitalia who came to the Vatican to meet him. The Pope called them “the Pope’s wings”, helping “the successor of Peter to fly to the ends of the earth, with the gospel of hope and peace”. The Pope also told them: “In two weeks, I’m going to Hungary, then Marseille, and Mongolia.”
In addition, the Pope also addressed another thought to the Alitalia delegation. He said, “What if St. Paul could travel by air?” That may be what happened to St. Paul VI, who was “the first pontiff in history to take an apostolic journey by plane.” Zong”, on January 4, 1964, he boarded an Italian DC8 flight, “that plane is now decommissioned”.
“Pope Montini wanted to travel to the Holy Land very much, and the time there was very short but extremely tight. At the end of the second session of the Second Vatican Council, he announced this decision to the participating priests with great enthusiasm. Then The first flight from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to Oman opened the Pope’s World Tour, a new way of fulfilling the Pope’s pastoral ministry. The bishop of Rome can reach many people. Tours can never be done in Rome.”
The Pope mentioned that Paul VI traveled 8 times on all continents during his pastoral ministry; St. John Paul II completed 104 trips during his 27 years of pastoral ministry, which is “remarkable”, “this kind of The formal mission became an integral part of the Pope’s pastoral ministry”; so did Benedict XVI. The Pope emphasized that the Italian flight accompanying the Pope “is a very precious service that requires competence, care and attention to many details, including logistics which are not easy: the Pope knows this very well, just as you From what I can see, he has some mobility problems, but with your help, he continues his visit!”
The Pope reiterated that travel is important for the Pope in order to meet people, communities of faith, followers of other religions, and men and women of good will. “Meeting a person, talking to a person is different than being present through a message, even a video message. It’s not the same thing”. Finally, the pope thanked those present who made it possible for him to undertake the apostolic journey “to strengthen the faith of our brethren, to approach the suffering, to help those who are committed to peace”.
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