VATICAN - “Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road”: mobility a characteristic of present day societies all over the world is a new horizon for evangelisation

Wednesday, 20 June 2007

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) - The necessity to write a document on “Pastoral Care of the Road ” emerged during the 1st European Meeting for National Directors of Pastoral Care of the Road held in February 2003 at the Pontifical College for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples. This led to the elaboration of the text with the help of numerous experts so as to set this pastoral care “in the broader field of the Church's universal mission”. The “Guidelines” were presented on 19 June at the Holy See Press Office by Cardinal Renato R. Martino, president of the Pontifical College for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples and the secretary of the same Council Archbishop Agostino Marchetto.
“The Guidelines are structured in four distinct parts - the Cardinal said -, considering the specificity and vastness of the problems connected with the street as a field of pastoral care: the first is dedicated to users of roads and railways and to those employed in the various connected services; the second and third part are devoted respectively to women and children on the streets; part four treats with homeless people, vagabonds"
The phenomenon of human mobility characterises especially men and women of today who need adequate means with which to move. The road and the railway -Cardinal Martino said - must be at the service of the human person as a means of facilitating the life and integral development of society. Moving brings people together, it facilitates dialogue, it starts processes of socialisation and personal enrichment. Besides being a way of communication, the road has become a place of life with its positive aspects (including “an opportunity to draw closer to God to facilitate the discovery of the beauty of creation ”) and negative (noise, air pollution, road accidents etc.).
The Old Testament describes continual migration and wanderings of the People of God always assisted by the protection of Yahweh, and also in the New Testament there are many references to moving, the road, journeys. “We can say - the Cardinal continued - that a journey is not only physical movement is has also a spiritual dimension related to persons, contributing to the fulfilment of God's plan of love. Christ is the Way, the Road”. After underlining that “it is of fundamental importance for a person to behave with responsibility and self control while driving a vehicle”, Cardinal Martino dwelt on some moral aspects of driving: “The capacity to live beside and relate with other people presupposes in the driver certain concrete and specific qualities, namely self control, prudence, courtesy, adequate spirit of service and knowledge of the rules of the Highway Code ”.
With regard to the Christian virtues of a driver, first comes Charity, then Prudence, necessary and important in relation to the traffic on the road, and last of all Justice. A person who starts a journey always sets out with Hope, the hope to arrive at the destination. “For believers the reason for this hope lies in the certainty that on our journey towards our destiny God walks with man and protects him from danger”. The Document also presents ten commandments of the road in analogy with the Commandments of God. The duty of the Church in this specific field of pastoral care is to “denounce situations which are dangerous or unjust often caused by traffic. Faced with such a serious problem, the Church and the State- each in the field of its own competence - must strive to increase general and public awareness with regard to road safety and to promote, with every means, correspondent and adequate education for drivers, travellers and pedestrians”. Cardinal Martino concluded: “Mobility, a characteristic of present day societies all over the world, with its problems is today an urgent challenge for institutions and individuals as well as for the Church. Consequently, those who believe in the Son of God made man to save humanity cannot remain inert in front of this new horizon which opens for evangelisation, to promote in the name of Jesus Christ, the whole person and every person.” (S.L.) (Agenzia Fides 20/6/2007 - righe 49, parole 682)


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