Here is a translation of his homily, which was given in Italian. Experience teaches us that time passes relentlessly.
All creatures are subject to the passage of time.
Only man, however, is aware of his own passing in time. He realizes that his personal history is tied to the flow of days. The discovery of America, which gave rise to a new era in humanity's history, is certainly a distinctive element in evaluating the millennium now ending. This last century has also been marked by profound and sometimes rapid upheavals, which have influenced culture and relations between peoples. Let it suffice to think of the two oppressive ideologies, responsible for countless victims, which have spent themselves in this century.