“In the face of the recurring temptation to go back to raising national barriers, it stands out all the more that your work is at the service of encounter and brotherhood,” Pope Francis said in an address to managers and staff of Italy’s National Civil Aviation Authority.

“In stark contrast to this perspective are the cases where aviation is used as an instrument of offense, destruction and death,” he continued. “We are unfortunately seeing this also in this terrible war in Ukraine, marked daily by aerial bombardments.”