Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone

“Europe is trying to find its own identity. To create a new, lasting unity, political, economic and legal tools are important, but an ethical and spiritual renewal must also be awakene, taking inspiration from the Christian roots of the Continent”. This was stated yesterday by card. Tarcisio Bertone, Vatican Secretary of State, as in Montecassino he celebrated the Day of Transition of Saint Benedict of Norcia. According to the cardinal, “even today, Saint Benedict’s lesson” is “like a beacon on our path. The great Abbot is still a master at whose school we can learn the art of living true Humanism. Just like at the end of antiquity, Saint Benedict and his monks managed to be the builders and the custodians of civilisation, likewise, in this age of ours, which is so rapidly changing, it is urgent to become aware of new needs and at the same time insist on a deep adherence to timeless values”.

The first and foremost of such values “is God’s Word, which must be listened to every single day to convert our life and to respond to the challenges of history. If, just like for Saint Benedict, spiritual life will be really deep in the Christian man, in the religious man, in the priest; if everyone, in his own state, will try to serve God, then they will effectively become the servants of man and the real builders of the civilisation of love”.