What is the mission of the Department of Pastoral Care of Tourism within the Spanish Episcopal Conference?

The Department for the Pastoral Care of Tourism of the Episcopal Conference is an instrument of evangelization that the Church places at the service of dioceses, parishes and other ecclesial realities for the promotion, formation, accompaniment and structuring of the world of tourism, which is particularly important in Spain.  It has no authority or power over the dioceses, which are governed by their respective bishops. The task is to accompany, help, guide and form the diocesan delegates for the pastoral care of tourism.  

In our work, we distinguish four major areas of action: 

• Leisure and vacation tourism, a very relevant area in Spain, as the largest international destination that this year will reach the record that will touch 95 million, according to Turespaña reports. 

• Cultural heritage tourism, which includes both cultural and religious tourism. 

• The one related to leisure, nature and recreation. 

• And also the social aspect, which focuses on the action of the Church towards workers who provide services in the tourism and leisure sector, the business world, and any other reality that interacts with tourism. 

How do you perceive the growth of religious tourism in Spain in recent years?

The first thing I perceive in a positive way is the growing appreciation and interest in the religious world as a destination for vacation, leisure, culture, interaction and knowledge. This is very encouraging. In Spain, for example, of the ten most visited monuments, seven are Catholic churches, according to Turespaña. It is interesting to note that when these churches are open for worship, tourists do not enter, but when an entrance fee is required, long lines form to gain access. This paradox draws our attention and, at the same time, poses a challenge: how can we ensure that all these people who wish to enter our churches can also open themselves to an encounter with the faith? In other words, not only can they enter our churches, but the message of the Church can also reach them. The challenge is to prevent their visit from being reduced to a simple cultural visit, cold and anodyne, denaturalizing the true purpose of the church. The temples were not built and embellished to be musealized or reduced to the object of cultural visits with audio guides. 

The sacred space was not created to be a merely cultural space, but for worship, for the encounter between God and man, for worship and prayer. To reduce the meaning of the temple to a mere cultural visit is to distort its essence. It is orthopraxis. However, I believe that this growing interest is very positive and we must accompany it and promote it with care to make at least a first announcement. 

In Spain we face important contrasts. While one part of the country would be happy for more tourists to arrive, the other wants them to leave. It is also necessary to encourage tourism in wonderful areas, such as the center of the country that has suffered significant depopulation while the coasts have been filled with residents and tourists. The center of Spain, once the heart of the Kingdom of Castile and Aragon, the ancient kingdoms of Leon and Galicia and other fabulous realities possess an unparalleled religious, cultural, artistic and historical legacy, just think of the Romanesque scattered throughout the Spanish geography, the art in the Pyrenees, which could also be an engine of sustainable development, dynamizer of repopulation and meeting point and social friendship. 

How can religious tourism be promoted while maintaining a balance between faith and destination marketing?

I usually give a very simple example that helps to perceive the difference between the task of the Church in the pastoral field and the task of so many people who work and build their lives at the service of making tourism a possible reality and not confusing the converging roles.  

 I usually speak of the hospital chaplain and the complex reality of a hospital. The pastoral care of tourism and the evangelization of the world of tourism are like the hospital chaplain: the chaplain takes care of the sick, the doctors, the health personnel and their families, the maintenance and cleaning staff. His presence seeks to make the Gospel present in a complex and vertiginous reality such as the hospital.  However, the hospital chaplain would not be able to do his work if the hospital did not exist. Without the hospital, his role would be reduced to visiting the sick in their homes on an individual basis. 

Similarly, the structures that promote, develop and sustain tourism destinations, the workers, the tourism professionals are like the hospital. They are the base that houses and coordinates the activities, manages the needs and prepares the staff. All this structure is essential for tourism to exist and function, but although it is necessary and important, it is not everything. 

It seems to me that rather than talking about marketing, we should talk about structuring, management and development. The commercial aspect is just one more aspect, a necessary activity within the whole.  

If we think about what happened during the pandemic, when the economy collapsed and the possibility of traveling was closed. Along with the pain of so many dead people and injured family members, one of the first material victims was tourism, and with it, its structures and the people who depend on tourism to work and live. I have friends who owned hotels and almost ended up asking for food aid. 

For evangelization in tourism to be possible, we need those structures, that 'hospital'. But is it enough to have just the hospital? Without faith, without the Spirit, what remains is an empty body. If we take faith out of the transcendent cultural heritage, we will end up explaining the materiality of art, it will be impossible to proclaim and aesthetic emotion, we would reduce everything to a cultural story, we would be taking the soul out of everything we do. 

What is the significance of the motto “Pilgrims of Hope” for the Jubilee 2025?

Dante in the Divine Comedy, in Canto XXV of Paradise puts in Beatrice's mouth some magnificent words “...in Santiago hope resounds”. When in 2022 we organized the VIII World Congress of Pastoral Ministry of Tourism in Santiago, the motto chosen was “Tourism and Pilgrimage, roads of Hope”, a proposal suggested by the then Archbishop, Don Julián.

It was very moving that, while we were preparing the Congress, Pope Francis proposed those same words to speak about pilgrimage and hope, as axes of the Jubilee. He reminded us that we are all pilgrims, that humanity has this innate condition. The Bible itself is a story of many pilgrimages, and the great pilgrim is Jesus Christ, the Lord, we are all pilgrims seeking the face of God, or as an Italian book on the subject was titled: “Beggars of heaven”. 

The hope of which we speak is not merely a psychological optimism or a sense of greater economic well-being; it is a theological virtue that comes from God. Just as faith is light and certainty, hope is the force that orients us toward God and sustains our Christian life. In our world, which often seems hopeless, disillusioned or wounded by wars, discord and struggles without reason or meaning, it is essential to speak of a higher hope, which impels us to move forward. The Pope wanted to place hope at the center of his discourse precisely at a time when it seems to be in decline. 

What are the main challenges facing the pastoral care of tourism today?

The pastoral care of tourism faces the challenges already pointed out by John Paul II, regarding its integration into the ordinary and organic pastoral care of the Church. Even today, the pastoral care of tourism needs to overcome certain barriers, since it is often perceived as something external or collateral, something that can be there or not, as one more accessory to the car or one less, but without true integration. Even in places whose life revolves entirely around tourism, there may not be a specific diocesan delegate for this area, nor many concrete initiatives. In many other places, we are happy to note a real interest and commitment. The Church, in many cases, is still very much focused on 'internal consumption', and we find it difficult to fully understand the complex reality of the world of tourism. 

There is a certain unconscious fear of treating tourism as a broader pastoral reality. Often, when a diocesan delegate for tourism is appointed, the mistake is made of adding the label 'religious tourism'. When I see appointments like this, it makes me want to ask them to remove that last word, 'religious', because it limits and distorts the true meaning. Religiously motivated tourism is only one segment within tourism in general, although for us it is a segment of central, fundamental importance. But we cannot remain only in it. As they say, we must stop 'fishing in the fishbowl', because the Lord has sent us to fish in the open sea, not only to take care of and fatten the fish that are already inside. 

How does the Spanish Episcopal Conference collaborate with other entities and organizations to promote or understand tourism?

Our role is to be available, to accompany and, when requested, to guide. We mainly accompany those people who, in their specific sector, have the noble task of promoting tourism, development, social friendship and encounter, whether through cultural heritage, vacation tourism or other realities. Our work is focused on being present, helping where needed and offering guidance when asked. Fundamentally, that is our approach under the guidance of our responsible Bishop Don Atilano Rodríguez, emeritus of Sigüenza-Guadalajara. 

How have social and technological changes influenced the way religious tourism is organized and participated in? What strategies is the Church implementing to bring tourism closer to the new generations?

I believe we are on the verge of a significant transformation in tourism, a process that is clearly going “in crescendo”. Technologies that were innovative yesterday are old today, and this opens up new questions about how tourism might relate to artificial intelligence and how this technology might influence the construction of future realities. It is a dynamic reality that we cannot pigeonhole or rigidly define. Undoubtedly, there has been great progress, moving from the era of the notebook and the Birome to today's technological tools, which has allowed us to advance enormously. 

In the world of youth, there is a growing desire to experience pilgrimage. Travel continues to be a human passion: that impulse to get to know new realities, to leave one's own environment, to open one's mind, to understand and to dialogue. It is a path to peace and encounter between peoples. In young people, this sensitivity is especially noticeable. I know parishes where young people spend the whole summer traveling, either in camps or on trips to different places, and they come back enriched. 

When you travel to an unfamiliar place, with a different culture, eat their food, see how they dress, converse and interact, it inevitably calls into question your own customs. What you once considered unique or absolute is revealed as relative, and that positive comparison with other realities of the world is undoubtedly enriching. 

It is important to pay attention to this growing interest of young people in tourism and pilgrimage. Often, while there is a certain caution towards the religious message, there is no caution towards the cultural heritage. Culture, art and beauty, when explained in their religious context and meaning, can open the hearts of many to faith. These first steps, guided by an appreciation of cultural heritage, can be the beginning of a journey toward faith. 

What is your vision of tourism as a tool for interreligious dialogue?

It is fundamental, because a large part of the problems stem from lack of knowledge. Misunderstanding stems from a lack of knowledge and is fed by prejudices, unjustified reasons and precautions, which make a person close to the other person without really knowing him or her. However, when you travel to a place, get to know its culture and allow the other person to get to know you, many barriers are broken. Sharing a meal or temporarily living in the other's reality and world makes it very difficult to generate conflict. Wars are often the result of preconceptions, preconceptions and, above all, fear and ignorance, and that dissipates with contact and understanding.” 

A few final words for tourism managers, tourism companies, tourists and pilgrims

The world of tourism is a fascinating world, although not always well understood. It is a field full of positive realities, but also with many challenges yet to be conquered. One of the key aspects is respect, not only for the place, the art and beauty we encounter, but also for the people who live there. The inhabitants of these places, who have had the privilege of growing up in unique environments, are the true custodians of what we, as tourists, enjoy only for a short time. 

Taking care of the neighbor, the local inhabitant, is fundamental. It is important to accompany them, respect them and value their role as guardians of the realities we visit. I give as an example a child who is born and grows up in Florence: his life experience is very different from that of a child who grows up in a country at war, amid suffering and pain. This respect for those who live in these places must always be present when we do tourism. 

Tourism is not without its challenges. It is not always easy, and we often face complex situations. Often, the efforts to maintain and restore monuments, to preserve them and make them available to the public, are titanic and do not always have sufficient support from the authorities. But heritage conservation is not the ultimate goal. These monuments were built for worship, for the encounter with God, and they must once again fulfill that mission. It is not just a matter of preserving the stone; it is a matter of these spaces once again evangelizing, allowing God to enter the heart of man and man to approach the heart of God.

From the Tourism and Society Think Tank, we would like to sincerely thank Gustavo Riveiro D'Angelo for the opportunity to grant this interview and to share his reflections on tourism and its pastoral dimension, and our gratitude to the Department of Pastoral Tourism of the Spanish Episcopal Conference for its willingness to collaborate with those who promote and manage tourism, especially when it comes to fostering respect for cultural heritage, faith and local communities. We hope that this dialogue will inspire to continue building a more humane, respectful and open to the encounter with the transcendental. Thank you very much.