People are needed to take up the challenge, strong people, who proclaim the truth, throw it in people's faces, and do what they can with their own two hands.

I came from a wealthy family. I made over my share of the estate to various charities.

Those seven years in the cloister were the key to my life.

It's not enough to attend church and pray every Sunday; you have to act.

When they are assailed by despair, young people should let universal concerns into their lives.

What I would say to the young men and women who are beset by hopelessness and doubt is that they should go and see what is being done on the ground to fight poverty, not like going to the zoo but to take action, to open their hearts and their consciences.

After the war, prompted by the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, I entered Parliament so that a priest could speak out for the poor, as canon law at that time still permitted.