Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move

N° 106, April 2008

MESSAGE ON THE OCCASION OF THE

Conference of the Ecumenical Coalition

on Tourism (ECOT) - 2008

Vatican City, March 7, 2008

Prot. No. 3695/2008/T

Dear Mr. D’Mello:

On the occasion of the Conference of the Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism (ECOT) to be held in Chiang Mai, Thailand, from April 7-8, 2008, I would like to express this Pontifical Council’s sincere encouragement to the organizers and participants for the successful outcome of the work of the meeting.

In line with the general theme, “Taking Stock, Moving Ahead: Transforming/Re-forming Tourism”, I express the hope that in a synergy of intentions from the social, political, cultural and religious viewpoints, tourism can be directed to be concretely the occasion for an encounter on an equal basis between persons of different origins, and an opportunity for a respectful comparison between different cultures and histories.

Along this line, we need to be more and more committed so that formation will be a distinctive element of the people who travel, and a support and enhancement of the value of the host communities.  In fact, in a globalized world where this industry has such great weight on the States’ economic sphere, our efforts and commitments are aimed at tourism so that it will put its potentialities at the service of all human beings, in respect and conservation of Creation.  The specific pastoral care of the Catholic Church for human mobility, through her workers, studies, documents, congresses and also in the celebration of the World Day, disseminates the values of the ecclesial Social Doctrine aiming at ethics in order to give pedagogical content and aids. 

In thanking God for the great gift of hope by virtue of which we can face our present, we pray for a better future in the peaceful cohabitation among peoples.  I wish your work will be fruitful!

Sincerely yours,

X Agostino Marchetto

Archbishop Secretary

Msgr. Novatus Rugambwa

Under-Secretary

________________

Mr. Caesar D’Mello

Executive Director

Ecumenical Coalition on Tourism

Chiang Mai, Thailand