(October 19, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI says music is a language suited to fostering
understanding and union between persons and peoples, and can even become the language
for talking with God. The Pope reflected on the role and power of music Saturday when
he attended in the Vatican a piano concert held in his honour. During the event,
Chinese pianist Jin Ju performed music by a variety of composers on pianos from seven
different epochs. "This concert has [...] permitted us to taste the beauty of music,
a spiritual and therefore universal language, a vehicle so importantly suited to understanding
and union between persons and peoples," the Holy Father said in giving words of thanks
at the end. "Music is a part of all cultures and, we might say, accompanies every
human experience, from pain to pleasure, from hatred to love, from sadness to joy,
from death to life," he continued. "We see how, over the course of the centuries and
millennium, music has always been used to give a form to that which we are not able
to speak in words, because it awakens emotions that are difficult to communicate otherwise.
"So it is not by chance that every civilization has placed such importance and value
on music in its various forms and expressions." Reflecting on the "vertical" dimension
of music the Pope said, "Great music, gives the spirit repose, awakens profound sentiments
and almost naturally invites us to lift up our mind and heart to God in every situation,
whether joyous or sad, of human existence. Music can become prayer."