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For the second time Benedict XVI has chosen the Valle d’Aosta, in particular Les Combes di Introd, at the foot of the highest mountain in Europe, as the site of his summer holidays. It’s a choice that strengthens his kinship with John Paul II and that is based on the common denominator of the mountains, even if interpreted in different ways. For Karol Wojtyla the mountains were especially a path that led to God by leading his gaze up to heaven, and hence his many excursions in the valley, without forgetting all his Angelus addresses dedicated to the theology of the mountain. For Joseph Ratzinger, on the other hand, the silence of the Alpine peaks permits the necessary contemplation to be at peace with himself, to find inner serenity: the result is a more withdrawn holiday, with restorative walks in the huge area that surrounds his summer residence in the Val d’Aosta and at the most one excursion per week to the most scenic spots in the little autonomous region. However, one should not be deceived: even if Benedict XVI less frequently adventures along the roads of the Val d’Aosta, he maintains, in common with Wojtyla, a willingness to enter into communion with the local community, and to grant a prayer, a blessing, a gesture of affection to those who ask him. Besides, his arrival at the airport, this year like last year, was greeted by a huge throng of locals. Pope Benedict XVI personally greeted all the faithful who had come to welcome him, accompanying his affectionate gestures with a smile full of wonder and astonishment. The diocesan representative charged with following the Pope’s holiday, commenting on this solicitude of the Holy Father, says he was struck by Benedict’s way of greeting people. “Pope Benedict XVI – he explains – wishes to address a smile and a gesture of affection to everyone and, in particular, devotes a great deal of attention to invalids. Last year, at his first Angelus, a group of invalids was out of his reach and (on learning of this) felt a real sense of loss at not being able personally to greet them”. But apart from this paternal affection, the presence of the Pope once again among the Alps, on the frontier between Italy and France, must be, as in was in the past for John Paul II, not just a source of joy, but especially a revived source of prayer and reflection, thanks to his two Angelus addresses in the Val d’Aosta. Joseph Ratzinger, in particular, is paying a great deal of attention to the theme of the family, as demonstrated also by his presence at the meeting on the family in Valencia. It’s a theme on which the diocese of Aosta, led by Bishop Giuseppe Anfossi (who also chairs the Commission of the Italian Bishops’ Conference for the family) has also been long reflecting, acknowledging the weakness of this fundamental cell of society. The family, indeed, represents a situation of worrying crisis that invests the West and in particular Europe. Central for the Pope is the theme of the transmission of the faith that must take place first and foremost in the family, without forgetting that “in many communities, now secularised, the most urgent concern for believers in Christ is just that of renewing the faith of adults, so that they be able to communicate it to the new generations”. These words, expressed by the Pope at the foot of Mont Blanc, must become a loadstar for genuine missionary work everywhere, also amid the mountains of the Val d’Aosta and the equally beautiful mountains of every country of Europe.
