The world today is experiencing a profound and rapid socio-cultural transformation. But the changes do not occur at a uniform pace, and the discrepancies in the change process have differentiated the various countries and regions of our planet.

Human history is in truth nothing but the history of the slow, uncertain, and surprising fulfillment of the Promise.

We take it for granted that Jesus was not interested in political life: his mission was purely religious. Indeed we have witnessed . . . the 'iconization' of the life of Jesus: 'This is a Jesus of hieratic, stereotyped gestures, all representing theological themes. In this way, the life of Jesus is no longer a human life, submerged in history, but a theological life -- an icon.

To hope does not mean to know the future, but rather to be open, in an attitude of spiritual childhood, to accepting it as a gift.

Reason has, especially today, many other manifestations than philosophical ones.

The God of Exodus is the God of history and of political liberation more than he is the God of nature.

[Neighbor is] not he whom I find in my path, but rather he in whose path I place myself, he whom I approach and actively seek.