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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, March 28, 1980
Page 13
The pontiff noted that "the Benedictine rule peacefully invaded all of
Europe...Outside of Italy, in Gaul, England, Belgium, Friesland, all of
Germany and Switzerland, Benedictine monasteries soon appeared. Some
time passed and then the Iberian Peninsula, Holland, Ireland, Bohemia,
Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Hungary, Dalmatia, Albania and, on the
flank o� Palestine, Syria and Constantinople knew the satisfying and
civilizing works of the sons of St. Benedict."
Pope John Paul called "this unity" the "theme and the aim of my message."
Observing that Pope Paul VI had earlier declared St. Benedict the patron
saint of Europe, the pontiff said the founder of western monasticism had
carried on the work "of the unification of peoples, based on their common
Christian faith." He exclaimed that "peoples who for theirhistories,
their traditions, education and characters were so different that they
often opposed each other in war, nonetheless, felt themselves all Chris
tian, all believers in God, all for their faith the sons of the same
heavenly Father and the Church of Rome."
As he closed his message the pope noted that European culture "was and
still is fortunately impregnated by Christianity."
The pontiff also extolled Latin as the language of the old Europe "spoken
commonly by the men of culture and used in the liturgy." It was "a chain
and expression of this ideal unity," he said. (Three days earlier the
pope told bishops to respect the desire of those Roman Catholics who want
mass said in Latin. Since Vatican II, the use of venacular languages has
nearly submerged the use of Latin. But the pope said that "the Roman
Catholic church has special obligations toward Latin, the splendid
language of ancient Rome.")
On a religious note of lighter vein, TIME magazine, in its March 24,
1980 story on Zimbabwe had an interesting observation on the man who
might occupy the ceremonial office of president in the new government of
Prime Minister-elect Robert Mugabe. It reported that "Mugabe's apparent
choice for the presidency is the Rev. Canaan Banana, 44, an eccentric
Methodist minister and ZANU militant best known for his adaptation of
the Lord's Prayer to the goals of black nationalism: 'Teach us to demand
our share of the gold. Forgive us our docility.... '"
--Gene H. Hogberg, News Bureau