BBC: The pope has timed a speech about the role of Ireland in European history to coincide with the eve of the Lisbon Referendum.
Pope Benedict has used his weekly audience to praise the central role of Irish missionaries in European history, a day before voters go to the polls to decide the future of the Lisbon Treaty.
Speaking to tens of thousands of pilgrims in St Peter's Square, the Pope gave a sermon about the life of St Columbanus, an Irish monk born in 543 who travelled to Europe to spread Christianity.
In his speech charting the saint's life, Pope Benedict said that Columbanus could be called a "European saint".
The Pope explained that Columbanus, who was born in Leinster, entered monastic life in Bangor aged 20, before leaving "with 12 companions to begin missionary work on the European continent, where the migration of peoples from the north and the east had caused entire Christian regions to lapse back into paganism".
He established three monasteries, including one built in Luxeuil which "became the centre for the expansion of monastic and missionary life of the Irish tradition on mainland Europe".
Columbanus and his Irish monks were expelled in 610 and "condemned to definitive exile" after a row with King Theodric over the monarch's "adulterous relationships," the Pope explained.
Unable to return to Ireland, they moved to Switzerland where they continued their work.
'Founding father of Europe'
The saint was an early advocate of European unity, at least in religious terms.
The church was split with schisms in northern Italy, prompting Columbanus to write "a letter to Pope Boniface IV to convince him to make certain decisive steps towards re-establishing unity".
Pope Benedict described Columbanus as one of the founding "Fathers of Europe". Pope Hails Irish Rôle in Europe >>> By Diarmaid Fleming | June 12, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Dust Jacket Hardcover, direct from the publishers
The Dawning of a New Dark Age –Paperback, direct from the publishers
