Vacation time offers the unique opportunity to pause before the thought-provoking spectacles of nature, a wonderful "book" within reach of everyone, adults and children. In contact with nature, a person rediscovers his correct dimension, rediscovers himself as a creature, small but at the same time unique, with a "capacity for God" because interiorly he is open to the Infinite.
Pope Benedict XVIIn the face of horror ... there is no other answer than the cross of Christ: Love that descends to the abyss of evil.
Pope Benedict XVIIf a Pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.
Pope Benedict XVIGod is alive. He has created every one of us, and he knows us all. He is so great that He has time for the little things in our lives: โEvery hair of your head is numberedโ. God is alive, and makes sense to become a priest: the world needs priests, pastors, today, tomorrow and always, until the end of time.
Pope Benedict XVIWhile the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.
Pope Benedict XVI