The real power is love, that which empowers others, that which arouses action, that which no chain is able to hold back, for even on the Cross or on the death bed one is able to love. One does not need youthful beauty, nor recognition or approval, nor money or prestige. Let love simply bloom...and it is unstoppable.
Pope FrancisI allow myself to honor the man who fought in moments when he had no strength to impose himself, until he managed to impose himself. [Joseph] Ratzinger. Cardinal Ratzinger deserves applause.
Pope FrancisI tell priests to flee from clericalism because clericalism distances people. May they flee from clericalism and I add: it's a plague in the Church.
Pope FrancisThe growth of equality… calls for decisions, mechanisms and processes directed to a better distribution of wealth, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor, which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality.
Pope FrancisGod is not a demiurge [demigod] or a magician, but the Creator who gives being to all entities.
Pope FrancisIt is necessary to broaden the opportunities for a stronger presence of women in the church.
Pope FrancisIt is better to have a Church that is wounded but out in the streets than a Church that is sick because it is closed in on itself.
Pope FrancisIf the seminary is too large, it ought to be divided into smaller communities with formators who are equipped really to accompany those in their charge. Dialogue must be serious, without fear, sincere. It is important to recall that the language of young people in formation today is different from that in the past: we are living through an epochal change. Formation is a work of art, not a police action. We must form their hearts. Otherwise we are creating little monsters. And then these little monsters mold the People of God. This really gives me goose bumps.
Pope FrancisIt hurts me when I see a priest or a nun with the latest model car, you can't do this. A car is necessary to do a lot of work, but please, choose a more humble one. If you like the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world.
Pope FrancisOnly trust in God can transform doubts into certainty, evil into good, night into radiant dawn.
Pope FrancisI would like especially to mention you, the women, wives and mothers of Paraguay, who at great cost and sacrifice were able to lift up a country defeated, devastated and laid low by an abominable war. God bless your perseverance, God bless and encourage your faith, God bless the women of Paraguay, the most glorious women of America.
Pope FrancisWe ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him to implore peace for all the world.
Pope FrancisBusiness is a noble vocation, directed to producing wealth and improving the world. It can be a fruitful source of prosperity for the area in which it operates, especially if it sees the creation of jobs as an essential part of its service to the common good. This common good also includes the earth... the environmental challenge we are undergoing, and its human roots, concern and affect us all.
Pope FrancisI join the March for Life in Washington with my prayers. May God help us respect all life, especially the most vulnerable.
Pope FrancisIf a person has done wrong, is conscious of what he has done and does not say sorry, I ask God to take him into account. I forgive him, but he does not receive that forgiveness, he is closed to forgiveness. We must forgive, because we were all forgiven. It is another thing to receive that forgiveness.
Pope FrancisAt stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God’s law engraved in our hearts.
Pope FrancisWe often pray to Jesus; we pray to the Father, especially in the 'Our Father'; but not often to the Holy Spirit....Pray often to the Holy Spirit so that He may help us, give us the strength, give us the inspiration and lead us forward.
Pope FrancisTell me, when you give alms do you look into the eyes of the man or woman to whom you give alms? . . . And when you give alms, do you touch the hand of the one to whom you give alms, or do you toss the coin?
Pope FrancisLet us pray for all good and faithful priests who dedicate themselves to their people with generosity and unknown sacrifices.
Pope FrancisHow many kinds of moral and material poverty we face today as a result of denying God and putting so many idols in his place!
Pope FrancisThere is so much indifference in the face of suffering. May we overcome indifference with concrete acts of charity.
Pope FrancisGod does not reveal himself in strength or power, but in the weakness and fragility of a newborn babe.
Pope FrancisAll Catholics must ask themselves what they personally have done lately to build up the holiness of the church and ensure people feel welcomed and loved in it.
Pope FrancisBe present to those who, living in the midst of a society burdened by poverty and corruption, are broken in spirit, tempted to give up, to leave school and to live on the streets.
Pope FrancisIf we are to know the Lord, we must go to Him. Listen to Him in silence before the Tabernacle and approach Him in the Sacraments.
Pope FrancisYou cannot be a conscious Christian without St. Paul. He translated the teachings of Christ into a doctrinal structure that, even with the additions of a vast number of thinkers, theologians and pastors, has resisted and still exists after two thousand years.
Pope FrancisThe Sacraments are Jesus Christ’s presence in us. So it is important for us to go to Confession and receive Holy Communion.
Pope FrancisOnly by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency, will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and sisters.
Pope FrancisJesus kept his wounds so that we would experience his mercy. This is our strength and our hope.
Pope FrancisAll too often, as we know from experience, people do not choose life; they do not accept the gospel of life, but let themselves be led by ideologies and ways of thinking that block life, that do not respect life, because they are dictated by selfishness, self-interest, profit, power and pleasure and not by love. ... As a result, the Living God is replaced by fleeting human idols, which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.
Pope FrancisWhen you lose the capacity to dream, you lose the capacity to love, and the energy to love is lost.
Pope FrancisThe Gospel calls individual Christians to live lives of honesty, integrity and concern for the common good.. to create circles of integrity.., networks of solidarity which can expand to embrace and transform society by their prophetic witness.
Pope FrancisWe are called to reach out to those who find themselves in the existential peripheries of our societies and to show particular solidarity with the most vulnerable of our brothers and sisters: the poor, the disabled, the unborn and the sick, migrants and refugees, the elderly and the young who lack employment.
Pope FrancisMay Christ the Savior give peace to Nigeria, where more blood is being shed and too many people are unjustly deprived of their possessions, held as hostages or killed.
Pope FrancisThe people of America, are not fearful of foreigners, because most of us were once foreigners.
Pope FrancisWe need to 'go out,' then, in order to experience our own anointing, its power and its redemptive efficacy: to the 'outskirts' where there is suffering, bloodshed, blindness that longs for sight, and prisoners in thrall to many evil masters.
Pope Francis