MEETING OF DIRECTORS OF ROAD MINISTRY ISSUES COMMUNIQUE

VATICAN CITY, FEB 11, 2003 (VIS) - A communique was released today by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant Peoples pursuant to the First European Encounter of National Directors for the Ministry of the Road, that was organized by the council and held in the Vatican February 3-4. Four bishops participated as did the directors of this pastoral ministry in 11 European countries.

Archbishop Stephen Fumio Hamao, council president, said that "since roads have become a place for expressing fraternity," and thus "areopagi for the new evangelization," the Church must turn its attention in this direction. Included in this category of "pastoral objects-subjects," says the communique, are truck, bus and car drivers, tourists, traffic safety employees, those who work at gas stations and also "those without a home, the street people."

"The apostolate of the road aims above all to form a more attentive awareness of the need to lay the foundations for peace and human coexistence even on the roads of the world in a society that has become ever more aggressive, domineering and violent. There is a need for social virtues such as meekness, respect for rights and duties, and prudence."

"Streets and roads can favor encounters among people, and therefore relationships that are more intense, facilitating travel and offering greater freedom and safety at the same time. Movement is therefore a value for man which can also reveal God to him and offer him the possibility of recognizing that the other person is also a brother in mankind or in the faith."

In addition, states the communique, the Church cannot neglect those who die or are wounded on roads. More than 35 million people died in road accidents throughout the world in the 20th century and over 1.5 billion were wounded.

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