This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart, and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration. And all this through the work of your hands . . . Remember that you are the custodians of beauty in the world.
Pope Benedict XVIIn this regard, I reiterate that the prohibition against torture cannot be contravened under any circumstances.
Pope Benedict XVIJesus Christ does not teach us a spirituality โof closed eyesโ, but one of โalertnessโ, one which entails an absolute duty to take notice of the needs of others and of situations involving those whom the Gospel tells us are our neighbours. The gaze of Jesus, what โhis eyesโ teach us, leads to human closeness, solidarity, giving time, sharing our gifts and even our material goods.
Pope Benedict XVIWhen, for example, in the name of non-discrimination, people try to force the Catholic Church to change her position on homosexuality or the ordination of women, then that means that she is no longer allowed to live out her own identity and that, instead, an abstract, negative religion is being made into a tyrannical standard that everyone must follow. That is then seemingly freedom โ for the sole reason that it is liberation from the previous situation.
Pope Benedict XVI