Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.

This is God's way, the way of humility. It is the way of Jesus; there is no other. And there can be no humility without humiliation.

It's best to not confuse optimism with hope. Optimism is a psychological attitude toward life. Hope goes further. It is an anchor that one hurls toward the future, it's what lets you pull on the line and reach what you're aiming for and head in the right direction. Hope is also theological: God is there, too.

In our ecclesiastical region there are priests who don't baptize the children of single mothers because they weren't conceived in the sanctity of marriage. These are today's hypocrites. Those who clericalize the church. Those who separate the people of God from salvation.

A great challenge: stop ruining the garden which God has entrusted to us so that all may enjoy it.

You pray for the hungry. Then you feed them. That's how prayer works.

Let's pray for whole world that there be brotherhood. I hope this journey of the church we begin today is fruitful for evangelization.