Welcome Ceremony in Costa Rica (2 March1983)

On Wednesday, 2 March 1983, the Holy Father landed in the San José Airport, where he responded to the President and Bishops in their welcoming ceremony.

Mr President,
beloved Brothers in the Episcopate,
dear brothers and sisters

1. Praise be to Jesus Christ!

I thank God for bringing me back to this American continent, after previous visits to the Dominican Republic and Mexico , to the United States , Brazil and Argentina , of which I have such vivid memories.

This time my steps as an apostolic pilgrim are heading towards this geographical area of ​​Central America. I thought about her for so long and she was often at the center of my memories and concerns.

In the first stage, the beloved land of Costa Rica welcomed me, whose warm hospitality I began to experience upon my arrival at the Juan Santa Maria airport in the nation's capital. For this reason, a feeling of deep gratitude arises in my spirit.

Thank you, Mr President, for your benevolent welcome, for the noble words you have just spoken, for the invitation you made to me together with the Costa Rican Episcopate to visit the country, and for everything you did to organize the visit conveniently. This recognized greeting extends to the Members of the Government and other Authorities and people who provided their enthusiastic collaboration.

My cordial and fraternal greeting also goes to the brother Bishops of SEDAC, firstly to its President, Mons. Roman Arrieta, Pastor also of this archdiocese of San José, who came to welcome me and with whom I will meet this same afternoon. In the same greeting I include all the priests, men and women religious, seminarians and lay people committed to ecclesiastical work, as well as all men and women — children, young people, adults and elderly people — of Costa Rica, a land of fruitful history and a lover of peace.

2. However, my gaze does not stop just at this Nation. This apostolic visit has a unitary character in its global development. Therefore, from the first moment I set foot on the lands of Central America, my thoughts and memories are full of affection towards all the people and countries that I will visit in the coming days: from Nicaragua to Panama and El Salvador; from Guatemala to Honduras, Belisa and Haiti.

Thinking of everyone, I undertook this journey, driven by the duty I feel to revive the light of faith in people who already believe in Jesus Christ, so that this faith illuminates and inspires their individual and community lives more and more effectively.

3. But this pastoral stay of the Successor of Peter among you also wants to have another purpose. In fact, the vibrant cry that rises from these lands and invokes peace, the end of war and violent deaths resounded with accents of urgency in my spirit; that implores reconciliation, banishing divisions and hatred; that longs for a justice, broad and until today futilely expected; who wishes to be called to a greater dignity, without renouncing their Christian religious essences.

I would like to give voice to this painful cry with my visit; the voice that dissolves into the already familiar image of a child's tears or death, of the elderly man's despair, of the mother who loses her children, of the long line of orphans, of so many thousands of refugees, exiles or displaced people in search of a home, of the poor without hope or work.

It is the pain of the people that I come to share, to try to understand more closely, to leave a word of encouragement and hope, based on a necessary change of attitudes.

4. This change is possible, if we accept the voice of Christ who urges us to respect and love each man as our brother; if we know how to renounce the practice of blind selfishness, if we learn to be more supportive, if the norms of social justice proclaimed by the Church are rigorously applied; if those responsible for the people are led to a growing sense of distributive justice of functions and duties between the different sectors of society; and if each people can face their problems in a climate of sincere dialogue, without interference from others.

Yes, these Nations have the capacity to progressively achieve goals of greater dignity for their children. This must be done with an increasingly determined will and with the collaboration of different sectors of the population.

Without resorting to methods of violence or systems of collectivism, which can be no less oppressive to human dignity than purely economistic capitalism. It is the way of man, the humanism proclaimed by the Church in its social doctrine that can overcome regrettable situations, which await opportune reforms.

5. My word is of peace, of concord and hope. I come to speak to you with love for all and to exhort you to fraternity and understanding as children of the same Father. Precisely this reality is what moves me to pulsate before consciences, so that from an adequate response hope can spring up in these lands, which they feel so much need for it.

From now on I encourage those who strive to obtain this; from public responsibility, from their position in the Church or in society.

In this sense, I also express my esteem and encouragement to the illustrious Members of the Diplomatic Corps, with whom I will meet these days, as well as to those responsible for the media, who can contribute so much with their own work.

I ask God to make these purposes fruitful, which I entrust to the Mother of Christ and ours, so that with her maternal help she may assist us in these days: Trusting in this protection from above, I bless, from my heart, each child of Costa Rica and the other Nations that I will visit during this apostolic journey.

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