True peace is not a balance of opposing forces, and it is not ‘a lovely façade’ simply covering conflicts and divisions. Rather, peace calls for daily commitment -- it's homemade -- starting from God's gift, from the grace which he has given us in Jesus Christ.

The proclamation of the saving love of God comes before moral and religious imperatives. Today sometimes it seems that the opposite order is prevailing.

Human trafficking is a crime against humanity. We must unite our efforts to free the victims and stop this increasingly aggressive crime which threatens not only individuals but the basic values of society.

May every Church and Christian community be a place of mercy amid so much indifference.

Today one can read the Gospel also on so many technological instruments. You can carry the whole Bible on your mobile phone, on your tablet. It is important to read the Word of God, by any means, but by reading the Word of God: Jesus speaks to us there! And welcome it with an open heart. Then the good seed will bear fruit!

God loves the lowly. When we live humbly, he takes our small efforts and creates great things.

I will be praying with my best wishes that the Orthodox move ahead because they are brothers and their bishops are bishops like us.