From the peak of Chimborazo (volcano) to the Pacific coast, from the Amazon rainforest to the Galapagos Islands, may you never lose the ability to thank God for what he has done and is doing for you, may you never lose the ability to protect what is small and simple, to care for your children and your elderly, to have confidence in the young, and to be constantly struck by the nobility of your people and the singular beauty of your country.

Wars shatter so many lives. I think especially of children robbed of their childhood.

I have heard it said that families with many children and high birth rates are among the cause of poverty. It seems to me a simplistic opinion. I can say that the main cause of poverty is an economic system that has removed the person from the center.

No act of virtue can be great if it is not followed by advantage for others. So, no matter how much time you spend fasting, no matter how much you sleep on a hard floor and eat ashes and sigh continually, if you do no good to others, you do nothing great.

God's love is unbounded. It has no limits.

I don't live in the papal residence. I live in a simple apartment behind the Vatican gas station.

When I saw from Rome that catastrophe (brought by Yolanda) I had to be here. And on those very days I decided to come here. I am here to be with you – a little bit late, but I’m here.