. . . you have your own memory of the history linked to your land: you spoke to me of a famous figure born eight centuries ago, St Peter Celestine V, and you said that you still consider him very up to date! You see,dear friends, in this way you have, as people say “an extra gear”. Yes, the memory of the past is truly an “extra gear” in life, because without memory there is no future. It was once said that history is a teacher of life! The contemporary consumer society tends instead to relegate human beings to the present, to make them lose their sense of the past, of history; but by so doing it also deprives them of the ability to understand themselves, to perceive problems and to build the future. Therefore, dear young women and dear young men, I want to say to you: the Christian is someone who has a good memory, who loves history and seeks to know it.
Pope Benedict XVI
Pastoral Visit to Sulmona
4 July 2010
