For just as some people want a purely spiritual Christ, without flesh and without the cross, they also want their interpersonal relationships provided by sophisticated equipment, by screens and systems which can be turned on and off on command. Meanwhile, the Gospel tells us constantly to run the risk of a face-to-face encounter with others, with their physical presence which challenges us, with their pain and their pleas, with their joy which infects us in our close and continuous interaction.

Holy Week is a good occasion to go to confession and to take up the right path again.

Anyone who wants to be pope doesn't care much for themselves, God doesn't bless them. I didn't want to be pope.

We are not alone. We have many brothers who in this moment of catastrophe came to help. And we too, because of this, we feel more like brothers and sisters because we helped each other.

Christianity spreads through the joy of disciples who know that they are loved and saved.

We should all remember... that throwing food away is like stealing from the tables of the poor, the hungry! I encourage everyone to reflect on the problem of thrown away and wasted food to identify ways and means that, by seriously addressing this issue, are a vehicle of solidarity and sharing with the needy.

As always, the ones who aren't saints make the most noise...a single tree falling makes a sound, but a whole forest growing doesn't.