Father Miguel Neto, director of the National Work for the Pastoral Care of Tourism (ONPT), held a private meeting (online) yesterday, July 20, with Cardinal Peter Turkson, prefect of the Department for the Service of Integral Human Development, at the Vatican .
In addition to making a brief review of the current state of the tourism sector in Portugal, namely with some data relating to the decrease in the number of visitors during the pandemic period, the person responsible for the ONPT also had the opportunity to point out to Cardinal Turkson the importance that the Church can have in this sector, as an agent of what Pope Francis called “integral ecology”, “especially at a time when there are various crises, all of which are connected and generate, in the agents who work in this area. industry, some inability to adapt to the new standards imposed'.
Father Miguel Neto stressed that we are facing "new sociabilities" as well as challenges that generate the "abandonment of a set of economic activities, places, landscapes, spaces."
He also stressed that all this creates "barriers to visitation", contributing to the absence of "revenue for many places, including religious, who depended on this sector to maintain its functionality" and, therefore, generating "unemployment, vulnerability in a sector that it is still very seasonal and where there is a lot of fragility».
The Algarvian priest also highlighted the importance that the Church may have in reflecting on and resuming this activity, which will never be the same again and which will include the concern to implement an increasingly sustainable tourism.
"This reflection, which has already been promoted on other issues within the scope of a commission created by the Holy Father to analyze the problems generated by COVID 19", needs, in the opinion of the ONPT, a specific approach to tourism, as it is important that it be possible. «to establish a dialogue with entrepreneurs, workers, political leaders, in order to collaborate in the creation of concrete measures to support the sector's recovery (such as measures for job creation, tourism promotion, communication/dissemination, etc.) ».
It will also be decisive to "work to preserve the heritage without systematically resorting to subsidies, seeking to implement initiatives that can be self-sustaining (for example, creating merchandising products) and also relying on the awareness of visitors to the role they play as agents that contribute to heritage preservation», explained Miguel Neto.
He also reinforced an aspect that he considers very important: «Our concern is not only for the places of great pilgrimages, which were severely affected. It goes through small communities, which are committed to creating jobs, which seek to safeguard their heritage, which are making every possible effort and are living with difficulties. There will have to be a word from the Vatican to the Episcopal Conferences and from these to the Dioceses, so that the parish priests and their communities do not give up on the projects that are underway, that they are considered as a source of permanent income creation and not the charity of emergency".
In this sense, the Director of the National Work of the Pastoral of Tourism he referred to Cardinal Turkson the need to have "a space for the debate on tourism issues within the dicastery", as "the Vatican and its action will always be the engine and shield, which will guarantee the possibility of acting and making action, within the Church, in any setting and in any place».
This meeting comes after the sending of a letter by Father Miguel Neto, right after the his swearing-in as the new head of the ONPT. “It seemed important to me that we could, at the level of the Universal Church, have very specific indications on this topic and not just a message on World Tourism Day, with an always opportune reflection on the topic, but that does not guarantee communication channels and clear action strategies», he explained, referring to the reasons for his decision.
The letter was best received by Cardinal Turkson, responsible for this Department, which has responsibility, within the structure of the Vatican, for tourism issues and a private meeting was held, in which both clerics were able to meet and exchange views.
This meeting and steps developed by ONPT resulted in a proposal by Cardinal Turkson: a new meeting (which will be, in principle, on July 26), with the responsible of the Pastoral do Turismo of Spain and France, so that everyone can get to know each other. , exchange impressions and probably define some common lines of work.
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