Welcome Ceremony (12 June 1984)

On Tuesday, 12 June 1984, the Holy Father was welcomed to the Kloten Airport in Zurich Switzerland. The Pope responded with  these words.

1. With great joy I come today in the Swiss Confederation. This and another important stage on the road of my pilgrimage, which, from the day of my election as bishop of Rome, has led me in the name of the Gospel to my brothers and sisters in the faith and many men of good will in different countries and continents. God has arranged that this visit should not take place in the spring of 1981, but today.

At the moment when, as the successor of Peter, I set foot on the Swiss soil, I greet with deference and in a spirit of friendship and love in Jesus Christ, the Saviour of humanity, all the citizens of this esteemed people, especially Catholic and evangelical Christians. I respectfully greet all those who have come here and in particular to you, the illustrious President of the Confederation, together with the representatives of the State and of society, the Most Rerespectful President of the Swiss Bishops’ Conference, his eminence Schwery, the brothers in the episcopate and priesthood, and all the guests who honor me with their presence. I sincerely thank those responsible for this friendly invitation and the President of the Confederation for his cordial welcome address.

2. While my first visit to Switzerland in 1982 was dedicated to some important international organizations, which have found in your host country, that of these days will be above all a pastoral visit to the local Churches of this country. Even before the historical events united in a single State the free cities and cantons of this Alpine region, it was the Christian religion that brought together the men and peoples of these majestic mountains and the valleys, despite their different origins and languages, in the one Church of Jesus Christ. From the beginning, Christianity has been deeply rooted in the souls and traditions of the Swiss people. I hope that the many meetings of the coming days will serve to make us reflect once again on this common Christian vocation and, as the people of God of the new Confederation, together with Christ, to thank and praise God, the Creator of all men, for his “wonderful works” (1 Pt 2: 9-10).

The challenge, which the modern age represents for humanity and for Christianity, grieves even more of us Christians for the lacerating fractures and polarizations that even today, as in the past, divide us. The coveted common witness, in an ever-secularized world, of all Christians to Christ and to the men saved by him, commits us to ever greater efforts to gradually overcome all the difficulties that divide from within and without, in the full truth and in the love of Christ "so that the world may believe" (Jn 17:21). For this reason I rejoice above all for the meetings I will have during my visit with my brothers and sisters in the faith who are divided. May God ensure that these encounters can deepen their mutual understanding and further strengthen and further develop our common witness of faith.

3. With this visit I would like to express my deep esteem for all the beloved people of Switzerland, who enjoy great esteem in the community of nations not only for its flourishing economic well-being, but also for its exquisite hospitality and for its international solidarity collaboration. His traditional neutrality has guaranteed him long periods of peace and social progress, and he has also created the conditions for an extraordinary humanitarian commitment, especially in times of serious international conflicts. Here I would like to recall - on behalf of all other humanitarian organizations, especially in favour of the suffering populations of developing countries - only the establishment and humanitarian activity of the International Red Cross.

Finally, I cannot fail to recall the particular link that unites Switzerland with the See of Peter thanks to the Swiss Guard Corps, in which, for many centuries, young Swiss citizens have ensured protection and help to the successor of Peter in the exercise of his many apostolic tasks, and have sealed their fidelity even with their own blood. For all this I would like to sincerely thank, during my visit, all the people of Switzerland and especially Catholics, in the name of Christ and of the Church, and at the same time encourage and confirm them in fidelity to their call and to their mandate as Christians in the world today.

It is natural that, since my arrival, I express myself to a short time in your three national languages. In fact, this pilgrimage leads me to this country where the plurality of linguistic traditions does not contradict the common identity of the Swiss and their cohesion; rather, it contributes to enriching a prestigious cultural heritage. The influence of the Swiss Confederation is all the greater in that the diversity of its languages allows it to be appreciated by a large number of interlocutors across the world and to welcome them generously in their own home. By joining the gratitude of so many men and women for what they have received from you, I am pleased to invoke God’s blessing on all the Swiss who also offer their hospitality to me today.

Your country, a crossroads of different civilizations, is also expressed in Italian. I would therefore also like to address in this language a greeting full of esteem and affection to all Swiss citizens of every condition, category and ethnicity! May God One and Triune, whose protection was invoked from the beginning of your national history, continue to bestow upon them the gift of peace, of inert concord, of justice, of fraternity and of solidarity, symbols of ancient and never-contenant virtues on which the true integral progress of the country rests.

May God bless, by the intercession of your patron, St. Nicholas of Fl?e, Switzerland and all its inhabitants.

Copyright 1984 - Libreria Editrice Vaticana

 Dicastery for Communication - Libreria Editrice Vaticana