“The sky reminds us that we are also made to fly, not so much in the material sense, but especially in the spiritual one. We are children of a Father who tells us: ‘Be holy for I am holy,’ which is like saying: fly high!” the Pope conveyed his message about 500 military aviators after they had attended Mass 10 December, the feast of Our Lady of Loreto.
The celebrations began on 8 December 2019, to mark the 100th anniversary of the declaration of Our Lady of Loreto as the patron saint of aviation, aviators, and air travelers. According to pious tradition, Mary’s house in Nazareth was flown by angels to Italy in 1294 after a brief stop in Yugoslavia.
“Every jubilee, according to ancient biblical tradition, reminds us that we are pilgrims in this world — that we are not ‘masters’ of the earth — and even less of heaven — but we are charged with cultivating and preserving this ‘garden’ where God has placed us,” the Pope told members of the air force, the Italian undersecretary of defense and the defense chief of staff.