The great tasks facing the ecclesial community in the modern world - and among the many I particularly stress evangelization and ecumenism - are centered on the Word of God and, at the same time, draw therefrom their justification and support.

Although the constellations in which I have found myself - and naturally also the periods of life and their different influences - have led to changes and development in the accents of my thought, my basic impulse, precisely during the Council, was always to free up the authentic kernel of the faith from encrustations and to give this kernel strength and dynamism. This impulse is the constant of my life ... what's important to me is that I have never deviated from this constant, which from my childhood has molded my life, and that I have remained true to it as the basic direction of my life.

Friends, do not be afraid of silence or stillness. Listen to God. Adore Him in the Eucharist.

Let us seek in particular to communicate the deepest joy, that of knowing God in Christ.

The essence of Christianity...is an ever-new encounter with... the God who speaks to us, who approaches us and who befriends us!

No law made by man can overturn that of the Creator without dramatically affecting society in its very foundation.

I am convinced that music really is the universal language of beauty which can bring together all people of good will on earth