Violence is a crime against humanity, for it destroys the very fabric of society.

I hurry to express to you and your fellow citizens my profound sorrow and my closeness in prayer for the nation at this dark and tragic moment.

Man matures through work which inspires him to difficult good.

The future is in your hearts and in your hands. God is entrusting to you the task, at once difficult and uplifting, of working with Him in the building of the civilization of love.

Do not forget that true love sets no conditions; it does not calculate or complain, but simply loves.

Faith and Reason are like two wings of the human spirit by which is soars to the truth.

In the context of the "great mystery" of Christ and of the Church, all are called to respond - as a bride - with the gift of their lives to the inexpressible gift of the love of Christ, who alone, as the Redeemer of the world, is the Church's Bridegroom.