On 4th March, 2011, Pope Benedict XVI
received an audience with Olafur Grimsson, the President of Iceland.
The
two spoke in a private audience for about 25 minutes as well as an
exchanging of gifts.
The president brought with him a statue of the
Icelandic woman Gudridur, who lived 1000 years ago.
She visited the New
World of America on a religious journey and is considered one of the
great heroes of Icelandic culture.
Ólafur Ragnar Grímsson - President of Iceland
“She was the first person in world history to be both in America and in
Rome 500 years before Christopher Columbus arrived on the scene. And she
was a Christian woman so her journey to America 1000 years ago was a
missionary journey, she had some priests with her, so her life story
embraces the world of Christianity.”
Just over 300,000 people live in the entire country of Iceland, which is a largely Lutheran nation.
However, President Grimsson says there is a small population of native
Icelandic Catholics that have been faithful to the Church for centuries.
There has also been a spike in the number of faithful due to a large number of immigrants to the country who are also Catholic.
“For the last 20 years we have had considerable immigration from Poland
and the Philippines and many other Catholic countries. So the size of
the Catholic community is now 10 times bigger than it was 20 years ago
and they play a very important role in our society, our community.”
The president noted that this remarkable Icelandic woman is not just an
important figure for the people of Iceland but also for the entire
Catholic world because she was the first person to bring Christianity to
America 1000 years ago.