Work on the Church of the Good Shepherd, on the edge of Lake Tekapo, began almost a year ago due to the increasing number of tourists to the district - with many coming to see the church. Continue reading

Representatives at the meeting included the South Seas Evangelical Church, the Solomon Islands' United Church, the Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Church of the Nazarene, the Roman Catholic Church, the Solomon Islands' Christian Association and the Anglican Church of Melanesia in Solomon Islands. Read more

French and Spanish bishops released a pastoral letter setting out the possibilities of evangelisation of those travelling the route.

The bishops admit that 70 per cent of those walking the Camino are not religious pilgrims.

Travel companies are moving in to make the trip "a cultural and tourist route like any other".

To counter this, the bishops suggested that parishes along the Way of St James should do more to support the pilgrims and strengthen their faith.

"Go out along the route to evangelise, welcome all you meet, invite them to visit your churches, explain to them the faith and the art of your altars, open a space for dialogue, take care of them personally," the letter said.

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The culture ministry and national heritage officials discussed the proposal without telling the Church.

The rector-archpriest of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris said having a fee would make free access by believers almost impossible.

Msgr Partick Jacquin painted a picture of two lines at the cathedral, one for visitors and one for the faithful.

"It's absurd - one would have to ask for baptismal certificates at the door."

All religious buildings in France built before 1905 belong to the state, which is responsible for their upkeep.

A change to the law separating church and state would be needed for the fees plan to proceed.

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But then-Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, being frugal, would save the rubber bands and return them in a ball at the end of every month.

Guide Javier Cortese offered the anecdote while leading tours around central Buenos Aires, where the local government and private companies alike have capitalised on the popularity of Pope Francis.

Tour guides now take tourists to the most notable and mundane points — from his neighbourhood parish to the newspaper stand - visited by the pope during his life in Buenos Aires.

Cortese said the tours are nothing out of the ordinary, given the excitement in Buenos Aires over Pope Francis' unexpected election.

The idea for the tours "was hatched the same day" of the March 2013 election, he said.

The Buenos Aires government was quick to embrace Pope Francis' election; it investigated his past and put plaques at places like his childhood home.

Despite the early excitement, the tours in Buenos Aires may be running their course and, at some places, bring more bother than benefits. Continue reading.

Image: Javier Cortese, centre, leads tours of sites important or notable during the life of Pope Francis CNS/David Agren

He says weddings should be celebrated in a sacred space like of a church or a chapel.

Chong said that the problem was not caused by local people, but by tourists.

"For our local people, we don't have to tell them this, they know where to get married."

"All Fijian people want marriages to take place in a sacred place — that's something that is natural."

Chong said Catholic priests should encourage those wishing to wed to be blessed inside a church.

At present Tourism Fiji is offering a chance to a dream destination wedding in Fiji.

As part of the upcoming Fijian Tourism Expo, and in partnership with the Fijian wedding industry, one lucky couple will win a FJD$26,000 dream wedding and honeymoon.

The "Pin Your Perfect Wedding" competition on Facebook and Pintrest invites couples to create a Pintrest board of their perfect wedding.

The prize includes return flights for four from any Fiji Airways destination to Fiji and a wedding ceremony on the pristine beach or historical chapel at the Sheraton Resort Denarau.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• FBC
• Image: RosieHolidays.org

The competition aimed to capitalise on the tourism potential of New Zealand's same-sex marriage law, said Tim Burgess, Australian general manager of Tourism New Zealand. He said gay marriage gave New Zealand a "unique point of difference" over Australia.

The chief executive of the Tourism and Transport Forum, Ken Morrison, said there was a significant market in this area that countries which permitted same-sex marriage were exploiting.

Although it was difficult to calculate how much this market was worth, Mr Morrison said a recent US survey found gay and lesbian travellers spent as much as 60 per cent more than heterosexual tourists.

At least three other competitions for same-sex couples to marry in New Zealand are being run.

Air New Zealand running a competition to give a same-sex couple a wedding in the sky.

The couple were married on a flight from Queenstown to Auckland on 19 August, the day marriage equality legislation comes into force.

The national carrier says it's immensely proud of the "giant step for our country" in "embracing all types of love".

The Registrar General received notice that 31 same sex couples from main centres intended to marry on Monday; Auckland (14), Manukau (1), Wellington (6), Christchurch (6) and Rotorua (4)

Source

• Sydney Morning Herald
• GayNZ.com
• Scoop
• Image: Admedia.co.nz

The Sistine Chapel ceiling celebrated its 500th anniversary on Wednesday.

Pope Benedict XVI marked the anniversary of what he dubbed as the "liturgical classroom" with vespers. He said "the works of art which decorate [the chapel], especially the frescos, find in the liturgy … their living environment."

On October 31, 1512, only 20 years after the discovery of America, Pope Julius II said an evening vespers service to inaugurate the room where Michelangelo toiled for four years, much of it on his back, to finish his ceiling frescoes.

The frescoes immediately became the talk of the town and have since become the talk of the world.

With mass tourism growing, however, critics warned that the 500-year old work of art may be in danger.

Some five million people visit the chapel every year, or as many as 20,000 a day in summer.

Italian literary critic Pietro Citati last month wrote an open letter in a major Italian newspaper denouncing the behaviour of crowds visiting the place.

He said tourists "resemble drunken herds" as they unwittingly risked damaging the frescoes with their breath, their perspiration, the dust on their shoes and their body heat.

The atmosphere, Citati wrote, was anything but contemplative as the tourists ignored the Vatican's requests for silence, composure and a ban on taking photographs.

Antonio Paolucci, the director of the Vatican Museums, however, said in a Reuters report that he did not foresee limiting the number of visitors "in the short and medium term."

He added, however, that the museums might not have any choice after that.

"Pressure caused by humans such as dust introduced, the humidity of bodies, carbon dioxide produced by perspiration can cause unease for the visitors, and in the long run, possible damage to the paintings," Paolucci said in an article in the Vatican newspaper.

"We might limit the access, putting a cap on the number (of visitors). We will do this if tourism grows beyond the limits of reasonable tolerance and if we are not able to respond adequately to the problem," he said.

Under the current system, visitors to the Vatican museums can either book times to enter or wait in long queues outside, but there is no cap on the total daily number.

In 1994, at the end of a 14-year restoration project, technicians installed an elaborate system of dehumidifiers, air conditioning, filters and micro-climate controls in the chapel.

But the number of visitors has grown in the past 18 years, putting the system under stress.

Sources

• Reuters
• Catholic News Service
• CNA/EWTN News
• Image: CNA

In December 2011 One Hundred Sands Limited, which is a subsidiary of a US company, was given permission by the Fijian Government to operate the country's first casino. The 290 million Fiji dollars (114.29 million US dollars) casino resort and convention centre is located in Denarau Island.

When he made the announcement in December, Prime Minister Bainimarama said the government chose One Hundred Sands Limited because of its strong affiliation with native American culture which provided a malleable fusion between the Western ideals of casino gaming with the strong cultural values of tribal and community life.

Announcing the approval of the second Casino, the Permanent Secretary for Public Enterprises, Tourism and Communication, Elizabeth Powell, said people needed to take things in perspective and realise that gambling had been in existence in the country in one form or another for decades.

"Lets be realistic. Gaming in Fiji is already widespread we've got lotto, scratchies, bingo and sports betting people have been gambling for some time but in an unregulated manner," she said.

"With the introduction of the casino, we will see the establishment of controls via the Fijian Gaming Commission Control Board. This means that for the first time we will monitor and control all forms of legalised gambling in the country not just the casino alone," Powell said.

A Fijian tourism official has highlighted the important role to be played by the multi-million dollar casino in the tourism industry, saying it will bring about a new market segment in the economic sector.

Dixon Seeto, President of the Fiji Hotel and Tourism Association, said the casino resort which includes a 1,500 seat capacity convention center will be able to cater for large conferences which no other hotels or resorts could cater for in Fiji at the moment.

He added apart from just being a casino, it has major benefits for the whole tourism industry and economy a driving force in the state's revenue, while the tourism industry continues to play an important role in Fiji's economic development, contributing significantly to income and employment generation both directly and indirectly.

Source

• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• The Fiji Times
• Image: Fiji Holidays

Benedict said that admiring the beauty of other people, cultures and nature, can lead to God and be the occasion of an experience of faith.

"Tourism, together with vacations and free time, is a privileged occasion for physical and spiritual renewal; it facilitates the coming together of people from different cultural backgrounds and offers the opportunity of drawing close to nature and hence opening the way to listening and contemplation, tolerance and peace, dialogue and harmony in the midst of diversity."

However in the same letter he strongly condemned sexual exploitation and the trafficking in human organs, and warned that tourists must not trample on the rights of people, particularly the poor, minors and the handicapped.

Sex tourism, Benedict said, "is one of the most abject of these deviations that devastate morally, psychologically and physically the life of so many persons and families, and sometimes whole communities."

He likewise sounded a similar warning about people trafficking.

"The trafficking of human beings for sexual exploitation or organ harvesting as well as the exploitation of minors, abandoned into the hands of individuals without scruples and undergoing abuse and torture, sadly happen in a context of tourism."

The pontiff urged the Church and anyone involved in pastoral care for tourists to support the goodness involved in tourism, to be alert for these abuses and to oppose them.

Sources

• VIS
• AFP
• Image: 100% NZ Pure