Money must serve, not rule! The Pope loves everyone, rich and poor alike, but he is obliged in the name of Christ to remind all that the rich must help, respect and promote the poor. I exhort you to generous solidarity and a return of economics and finance to an ethical approach which favours human beings.

A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel.

Become the Word in body as well as spirit.

Christian love is loving without counting the cost. This is the lesson of the Good Samaritan; this is the lesson of Jesus.

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.

Despite the slowness, the infidelity, the errors and sins it committed and might still commit against its members, the Church, trust me, has no other meaning and goal but to live and witness Jesus.

Reforming the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor first requires a conversion of mind and heart.