Oh, how I would like a poor Church, and for the poor.

May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman.

A population that does not take care of the elderly and of children and the young has no future, because it abuses both its memory and its promise.

Religious life ought to promote growth in the Church by way of attraction. The Church must be attractive. Wake up the world! Be witnesses of a different way of doing things, of acting, of living! It is possible to live differently in this world.

The pace of consumption, waste and environmental change has so stretched the planet's capacity that our contemporary lifestyle, unsustainable as it is, can only precipitate catastrophes, such as those which even now periodically occur in different areas of the world ... we need to reflect on our accountability before those who will have to endure the dire consequences.

God's image is the married couple, a man and women, together. Not just the man. Not just the woman. No, both of them. That's God's image.

To the criminals and all their accomplices, I, today, humbly and as a brother, repeat: convert yourselves to love and justice. It is possible to return to honesty. The tears of the mothers of Naples are asking this of you.