At the first meeting I had with the (Italian) bishops in May 2013, one of the three things I said was: with the Italian government you're on your own. Because the pope is for everybody and he can't insert himself in the specific internal politics of a country. This is not the role of the pope, right?

Dear young people, always be missionaries of the Gospel, every day and in every place.

The mercy of Jesus is not just sentiment: indeed it is a force that gives life, that raises man up!

All of us benefit from remembering our past. A people which remembers does not repeat past errors; instead, it looks with confidence to the challenges of the present and the future.

Only trust in God can transform doubts into certainty, evil into good, night into radiant dawn.

These two criteria are like the pillars of true love: deeds, and the gift of self.

The vocation of being a 'protector' [. . .] means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us [. . .] In the end, everything has been entrusted to our protection, and all of us are responsible for it. Be protectors of God’s gifts!