Catholic World News News Feature

New Vatican document addresses pastoral care for the road June 19, 2007

The Vatican has released a comprehensive new document on "pastoral care of the road."

At a June 19 press conference to introduce the new document, Cardinal Renato Martino, the president of the Pontifical Council for Migrants, explained that the document is designed to "guide and coordinate all the ecclesial bodies in the world of the pastoral care of the road, and to encourage and stimulate episcopal conferences of countries in which this form of pastoral care does not exist, to organize it."

The document addresses several different topics: pastoral outreach to frequent travelers and those who make their living in the field of transportation; considerations of road safety; ministry to women and children living on the streets; and care for the homeless.

Archbishop Agostino Marchetto, the secretary of the Pontifical Council for Migrants, told reporters that "it is important to understand the factors that push ... women into prostitution." He added that the Church "has the pastoral responsibility to defend and promote the human dignity of those exploited by prostitution, and to work toward their liberation."

Regarding children who live on the streets, the archbishop cited said that the problem has reached "unimaginable proportions," with the International Labor Organization reporting that 150 million children worldwide fall into that category.

The new Vatican document, "Guidelines for the Pastoral Care of the Road," was produced at the suggestion of the First European Meeting of National Directors of the Pastoral Care of the Road, held in 2003. It was made available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian.