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Pope Benedict XVI smiles during his weekly general audience, held in Paul VI Hall, at the Vatican, Wednesday, March 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Plinio Lepri)

The Pope also spoke a greeting in Latin to students of a Latin academy who were in the audience.

Sueciam deinde ipsam longinquam consalutare Latino sermone cupimus cuius hodie "Schola Cathedralis Scarensis" adest cum linguae Latinae discipulis viginti septem ac magistro Ioanne Hjertén aliisque praeceptoribus. Volumus omnino eorum confirmare et incitare studia, dum hic Romae antiquitates degustant tum christianas tum etiam veterum Romanorum, ut inde magnopere augescat spiritalis illorum et humana haereditas.

The translation

Now we wish to greet in Latin the far country of Sweden, from which present today is the Schola Cathedralis Scarensis, with 27 students of the Latin language, their teacher John Hjerten and other teachers. We wish to encourage and urge each of them in their studies, so that here in Rome, they may be able to experience the antiquities, both Christian and Roman, in a way that will increase their spirituality and (appreciation of) the human legacy.

Watch and listen to Benedict XVI speaking Latin!

Previous catecheses on the Early Church Fathers:
On St. Clement of Rome -The Church Has a Sacramental, Not Political Structure (March 7, 2007)
Truly a Doctor of Unity (St. Ignatius of Antioch) (March 14, 2007)
St. Justin Martyr: He Considered Christianity the "True Philosophy" (March 21, 2007)
St. Irenaeus of Lyons: The First Great Theologian of the Church (March 28, 2007)
St. Clement of Alexandria: One of the Great Promoters of Dialogue Between Faith and Reason (April 18, 2007)
On Origen of Alexandria: He Was a True Teacher (April 25, 2007)
Origen: The Privileged Path to Knowing God Is Love (May 2, 2007)
Tertullian: Accomplished a Great Step in the Development of the Trinitarian Dogma (May 30, 2007)
St. Cyprian: His Book on the 'Our Father' Has Helped Me to Pray Better (June 6, 2007)
On Eusebius of Caesarea (June 13, 2007)
On St. Athanasius (June 20, 2007)
On St. Cyril of Jerusalem (June 27, 2007)
On St. Basil (July 4, 2007)
St. Basil (August 1, 2007)
St. Gregory of Nazianzen (August 8, 2007)
St. Gregory Nazianzen's Teachings (August 22, 2007)
St. Gregory of Nyssa - A Pillar of Orthodoxy (August 29, 2007)
Gregory of Nyssa on Perfection (September 5, 2007)
On St. John Chrysostom's Antioch Years (September 19, 2007)
On Chrysostom's Social Doctrine (September 26, 2007)
St. Cyril of Alexandria (October 3, 2007)
On Hilary of Poitiers (October 10, 2007)
On St. Eusebius of Vercelli (October 17, 2007)
On St. Ambrose of Milan (October 24, 2007)
On St. Maximus of Turin (October 31, 2007)
On St. Jerome (November 7, 2007)
St. Jerome on the Bible (November 14, 2007)
On the Teachings of Aphraates (November 21, 2007)
On St. Ephrem the Syrian (November 28, 2007)
On St. Chromatius of Aquileia (December 5, 2007)
On St. Paulinus of Nola (December 12, 2007)
On St. Augustine (January 9, 2008)
St. Augustine's Last Days (January 16, 2008)
On St. Augustine's Search for Truth (January 30, 2008)
On the Writings of St. Augustine (February 20, 2008)
On St. Augustine's Conversion (February 27, 2008)
On St. Leo the Great (March 5, 2008)

He conceived the idea of entrusting to the monks the task of recovering, conserving and transmitting to posterity the immense cultural patrimony of the ancients so that it would not be lost.

This task is more pertinent to us in the 21c. than we perhaps think. While the physical preservation of manuscripts is hopefully not am urgent matter, the destruction of the Christian patrimony in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel/West bank, Jordan and Egypt, and now imminent in Kosovo, should concern every Christian. Worse, the authentic Christian tradition does not appear to be safe even in the supposedly tolerant West.