The True Europe: Its Identity and Mission

Here is Benedict XVI's last and heartfelt call for Europe to rediscover and reaffirm its true origin and identity that have made it great and a model of beauty and humanity. It is not about imposing the truths of faith as the foundation of Europe, but about making a thorough choice, recognizing that it is more natural and just to live "as if God existed" than "as if there were no God." 

Just as Pope John XXIII called on the great nations of Europe and the West to avoid a devastating nuclear war, today Benedict XVI addresses for the last time all of Europe and the West so that, by rediscovering their own soul, they can save themselves and the world from self-destruction. 

"The ecological movement has recognized and discovered the limit of what can be done, it has discovered that "nature" sets a limit for us that we cannot ignore with impunity. Unfortunately, the "ecology of man" has not yet become concrete. Man also has a "nature" that is given to him; and denying or violating it leads to destruction." 
- Benedict XVI

"With the clarity, the immediate accessibility and at the same time the depth that characterize him, Benedict XVI magnificently outlines that 'idea of Europe' that has undoubtedly inspired its founding Fathers and that is at the foundation of its greatness and whose definitive obfuscation would sanction its complete and irreversible decline."
- Pope Francis, from the Introduction