Pope Francis says "...walk in life with our feet on the ground, sharing the joys and sufferings of those around us; and at the same time, to always keep our gaze raised to the horizon of heaven..."
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ADDRESS OF THE HOLY FATHER FRANCIS
TO MANAGERS AND STAFF
OF THE NATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION BODY (ENAC)
Paul VI Hall
Friday, May 13, 2022
Dear ENAC managers and operators, good morning and welcome!
I am pleased to meet you and to extend my welcome to each of you, your family members and the representatives of your international partners. I thank the President for his words, which evoked the aims of the National Civil Aviation Authority.
TO MANAGERS AND STAFF
OF THE NATIONAL CIVIL AVIATION BODY (ENAC)
Paul VI Hall
Friday, May 13, 2022
Dear ENAC managers and operators, good morning and welcome!
I am pleased to meet you and to extend my welcome to each of you, your family members and the representatives of your international partners. I thank the President for his words, which evoked the aims of the National Civil Aviation Authority.
You are part of the multifaceted air transport sector, which deserves to be encouraged and supported, as it is among those most affected by the pandemic. Civil aviation has contributed to the development of the contemporary world, bringing distant peoples closer to each other and making them known. You put professionalism and structures at the service of the company to ensure the safety of the flight and passengers, both during aeronautical operations and on the ground in the airport. This activity, in addition to being an effective instrument for regulating and controlling flights, has taken on the characteristics of a precious social asset.
With your work, in fact, you offer an indispensable service to the nation and citizens, contributing considerably to developing their European and world vocation. Thousands of passengers can reach other cities and countries, for work, for tourism, for family needs, and thus bring together various cultures and traditions. In this way, knowledge, collaboration and reciprocal exchanges in the cultural, economic and religious spheres are fostered. How important is your work for the development of these human and social relationships at an international level! Faced with the recurring temptation to go back to erecting national barriers, it stands out even more that your work is at the service of encounter and brotherhood.
In stark contrast to this perspective are the cases in which aviation is used as an instrument of offense, destruction, death. Unfortunately, we are also seeing this in this terrible war in Ukraine, marked daily by aerial bombardments. Faced with this bleak scenario, the hope that the skies are always and only skies of peace presses more strongly on our hearts, that we can fly in peace to forge and consolidate relationships of friendship and peace. Aviation is friendship, it is meeting!
It is also your concern to implement adequate programs to prevent serious accidents on means of transport. In this regard, I hope that the National Day "Not to forget", designed to remember the victims of the tragic Linate accident, will be an opportunity to raise awareness among the organizations interested in civil aviation on the centrality of the passenger and the value of each individual person. I encourage you to carry on this annual appointment, and I congratulate you because you know how to live it in the religious and human dimension, which for you finds its point of reference in the Holy House of Loreto, in your Patroness, of which you are particularly devoted.
Our Lady, whom the Christian people venerate with special affection in this month of May, teaches us to walk in life with our feet on the ground, sharing the joys and sufferings of those around us; and at the same time, to always keep our gaze raised to the horizon of heaven, with our hearts open to God and to his grace that saves us.
Dear friends, I renew to you and your colleagues my appreciation for the activity you carry out, well aware of how delicate and tiring it is, especially for the entrepreneurial situations of the various airline companies, when they have to reduce staff or create partnerships with other companies : please, we must protect people, who are not left out without work overnight. Work is a wealth. And for this, I urge you to work among yourselves in a spirit of solidarity, sincerity and friendship, to foster mutual relationships that help you to face even difficult moments with confidence. I entrust you and your families to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Loreto and I cordially bless you. Please don't forget to pray for me. Thanks.
With your work, in fact, you offer an indispensable service to the nation and citizens, contributing considerably to developing their European and world vocation. Thousands of passengers can reach other cities and countries, for work, for tourism, for family needs, and thus bring together various cultures and traditions. In this way, knowledge, collaboration and reciprocal exchanges in the cultural, economic and religious spheres are fostered. How important is your work for the development of these human and social relationships at an international level! Faced with the recurring temptation to go back to erecting national barriers, it stands out even more that your work is at the service of encounter and brotherhood.
In stark contrast to this perspective are the cases in which aviation is used as an instrument of offense, destruction, death. Unfortunately, we are also seeing this in this terrible war in Ukraine, marked daily by aerial bombardments. Faced with this bleak scenario, the hope that the skies are always and only skies of peace presses more strongly on our hearts, that we can fly in peace to forge and consolidate relationships of friendship and peace. Aviation is friendship, it is meeting!
It is also your concern to implement adequate programs to prevent serious accidents on means of transport. In this regard, I hope that the National Day "Not to forget", designed to remember the victims of the tragic Linate accident, will be an opportunity to raise awareness among the organizations interested in civil aviation on the centrality of the passenger and the value of each individual person. I encourage you to carry on this annual appointment, and I congratulate you because you know how to live it in the religious and human dimension, which for you finds its point of reference in the Holy House of Loreto, in your Patroness, of which you are particularly devoted.
Our Lady, whom the Christian people venerate with special affection in this month of May, teaches us to walk in life with our feet on the ground, sharing the joys and sufferings of those around us; and at the same time, to always keep our gaze raised to the horizon of heaven, with our hearts open to God and to his grace that saves us.
Dear friends, I renew to you and your colleagues my appreciation for the activity you carry out, well aware of how delicate and tiring it is, especially for the entrepreneurial situations of the various airline companies, when they have to reduce staff or create partnerships with other companies : please, we must protect people, who are not left out without work overnight. Work is a wealth. And for this, I urge you to work among yourselves in a spirit of solidarity, sincerity and friendship, to foster mutual relationships that help you to face even difficult moments with confidence. I entrust you and your families to the maternal intercession of Our Lady of Loreto and I cordially bless you. Please don't forget to pray for me. Thanks.
Source: Vatican.va
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