I’d like to continue exploring the issue of secular salvation within modern European society in the light of a recent book by the present Pope Benedict XVI. The book, published shortly before his elevation to the Papacy, is in Italian and the translation of its title is: Europe: Its Spiritual Foundations of Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow. It is basically the expansion of a lecture he gave on May 13, 2004 (as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger) in the library of the Italian Senate, i.e., the Sala Capitolare del Chiostro della Minerva. He was invited there by Marcello Pera, who besides being the president of the Italian Senate at the time is also a professional philosopher.
The general theme of the book is this: modern Western Civilization finds itself in a crisis which many political and cultural pundits see as the crisis of the EU Constitution, or perhaps as the demise of the NATO alliance, or the war in Iraq, or global terrorism, or the entrance of Turkey in the EU. In reality the roots of the crisis lie much deeper, in the very soul and cultural identity of Europe, a continent that besides being a geographical place is also an idea which has developed over many centuries.
more from Ovi here.