Vatican City, Feb 16, 2004 / 22:00 pm
Pope John Paul II said today that Universities “can speak out loud” of the Christian roots of Europe that “the ideology of the secularism” wants to silence.
“Today, we speak of the Christian roots of Europe. If one sign of these are the cathedrals, the works of art, music and literature, they in a certain sense speak in silence”, the Pope told 20 representatives of the University of Opole, Poland, who are in Rome to celebrate the tenth anniversary of its founding.
“Universities, however, can speak out loud. Yes, this voice might not be received by those who have been deafened by the ideology of the secularism of our continent but this does not release men of science from the duty of giving witness to that science and knowledge which grew in the fertile terrain of Christianity,” he stressed.
The University of Opole conferred on the Pope an “honoris causa” doctorate.