Welcome Ceremony (12 May 1982)

On Wednesday, 12 May 1982, the Holy Father landed in the Portela International Airport in Lisbon. At the Welcoming Ceremony, the Pope spoke of his “long-cherished” dream to come to Fatima.

Most Excellent President of the Republic,
Cardinal Patriarch and Archbishops and Bishops,
Ladies and Gentlemen, dear friends of Portugal.

1. I thank God and I thank everyone for the great joy I feel today in setting foot on Portuguese soil. I personally thank Your Excellency, Mr President of the Republic, for your deferential presence, and in representing the hospitable and honored people of this noble "Land of Saint Mary", to whom, through Your Excellency, I address this first message of mine.

Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ.

With these words, of reconciliation and peace for the renewal of hearts and spirits in love, I inaugurated my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the universal Church; with them I want to greet you at the beginning of my pilgrimage to Portugal. As a symbolic greeting I have just kissed the homeland of Portugal. It is a simple gesture that I repeat, but full of meaning, and it provokes an ever new emotion in me, with a constant principle, the only love for Jesus Christ, but very different for the new friends I meet. First of all, for my part, this gesture means friendship, for the friendship, by which I feel surrounded and which dictates to me a heartfelt "many thanks". Many thanks to you all!

I would like this thanks to be welcomed by all those who, in different capacities, represent Portugal and are committed to making this trip of mine possible, inviting me and working on its organisation; in particular by the men of the Church, my brothers in the Episcopate, who have come here to welcome me in the name of the Church of this country that I love very much.

2. I am in Portugal, to realize a long-cherished dream, as a man of the Church and eager to know Fatima directly. I am here to accept the lovely invitations of my brother Bishops, of His Excellency the President of the Republic and of the many Portuguese who have expressed such a desire: in a large number of letters that I have received, in recent times, and by voice; I am here today, thanks to God "rich in mercy". This pilgrimage of mine has a dominant motif: Fatima; I will then follow a Marian itinerary, through Vila Vicosa, Sameiro and “Cidade da Virgem”. On the way to Fatima or on the way back from Fatima, I carry in my heart the song of the acts of grace of our Lady, for God having saved my life, in the attack I suffered on the thirteenth of May last year; and in an attitude of adoration I repeat:

“My soul glorifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior” ( Lk 1:47).

On a pastoral visit, I would like, together with my brother Bishops and confirming them, to animate the Community; and, with humility and simplicity, communicate Christ and announce his message and proclaim the "human dimension" of the mystery of Redemption, in which man can find the greatness, dignity and value of his humanity.

Thus, Pastor with his Pastors and pilgrim with the pilgrim Church in Portugal, I feel at this moment the need to express the highest appreciation and pay homage to the Christian traditions of this blessed land, small homeland of a great people, proud of its audacious historical undertakings, with a flavor of adventure. These circumstances and opportunities were providential for the children of this Nation who transmitted the faith, received from the cradle, in undertakings of evangelization, which not only the Catholic world recognizes and admires with gratitude: from the forests of the Amazon to the cold Japanese plains, passing through Africa and the Indies, the name of Christ was announced by the generous Portuguese missionaries.

3. But since we cannot evangelize if we are not evangelized, here I pay homage to the living and dynamic Church, which identifies itself with the majority of the Portuguese population, and which, over the centuries, with fidelity to the Redeemer of man - here venerated above all in his mysteries of the Passion and the Eucharist - with devotion to our Lady, who will be proclaimed Queen and Patroness of Portugal, and in adhesion to the Apostolic See of Rome, he was able to maintain his option for Christ, giving the world saints of the importance of a saint 'Anthony of Lisbon; I also pay homage to this universal Saint, in this year of Antonian commemorations.

Hello Portugal, of honoured, generous, patient, hardworking and dignified people, land of Martyrs, Saints and heroic servants of the Gospel of Christ. The summary evocation and homage to your past merge in me, in this hour of joy, with a vision of hope for your present, which we will talk about during these days, and for your future which I ardently desire to be prosperous. , peaceful and happy for all your children, from Minho to the Algarve, from the other island regions, or wherever they are; for the emigrants scattered around the world and for those who have returned home and are trying to reorganize their lives, finally, my best wishes of happiness go out to everyone without exception. I now confide these wishes in prayer to our Lady of Fatima, Mother of God, Mother of the Church and of peoples, under whose protection I place my visit to Portugal, invoking upon this beloved Nation the blessing of Almighty and merciful God.

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