The youth say stupid things and they say good things, as we do, as everyone does. But hear them, speak with them, because we must learn from them and they must learn from me, from us.
Confession is the sacrament of the tenderness of God, his way of embracing us.
Dear parents, teach your children to pray. Pray with them.
Jesus intercedes for us each day. Let us pray: Lord, have mercy on me; intercede for me!
At times we can be self-absorbed. Lord, help us to open our hearts to others and to serve those who are most vulnerable.
Every Catholic parliamentarian must vote according their well-formed conscience. I would say just this. I believe it is sufficient because -- I say well-formed because it is not the conscience of 'what seems to me.'
A simple lifestyle is good for us, helping us to better share with those in need.
True charity requires courage: Let us overcome the fear of getting our hands dirty so as to help those in need.
It means protecting people, showing loving concern for each and every person, especially children, the elderly, those in need, who are often the last we think about.
The Lord put it clearly: you cannot serve two masters. You have to choose between God and money.
Mercy is the true power that can save humanity and the world from sin and evil.
Listen to Jesus and follow him. That's the message of the Transfiguration.
Certain realities of life we only see through eyes cleansed by our tears.
Certain realities in life are only seen through eyes that are cleansed through our tears. Let us learn how to weep.
I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance, says Jesus. This is where true wealth is found, not in material things!
God's faithfulness is stronger than our unfaithfulness and our infidelities.
Violence and war lead only to death.
The Christian who does not feel that the Virgin Mary is his or her mother is an orphan.
Today Saint Paul has told us that in Christ we have become God's adopted children, brothers and sisters in Christ. This is who we are. This is our identity.
Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love.
We are impatient, anxious to see the whole picture, but God lets us see things slowly, quietly.
Humanity needs to see these gestures of peace and to hear words of hope and peace!
Open your hearts to the Lord. The Lord is waiting for you and the Church will welcome you if your willingness to serve good is as clear and public as your choice to serve evil was.
Dear young people, the Church expects great things of you and your generosity. Don't be afraid to aim high.
Sin is more than a stain. Sin is a wound; it needs to be treated, healed. The place where my encounter with the mercy of Jesus takes place is my sin.
If we want security, let us give security; if we want life, let us give life; if we want opportunities, let us provide opportunities. The yardstick we use for others will be the yardstick which time will use for us.
Dear young friends, learn to pray every day: this is the way to know Jesus and invite him into your lives.
When we don't preach the LORD, we preach the Devil, and when we preach worldliness, we preach the Devil.
When we do not profess Jesus Christ, we profess the worldliness of the devil, a demonic worldliness.
There is a danger that threatens everyone in the church, all of us. The danger of worldliness. It leads us to vanity, arrogance and pride.
The Holy Spirit is a great worker, not a 'trade unionist.' He is a great worker, and He works in us, always. He does this work of explaining the mystery of Jesus, and of giving us this sense of Christ.
In the face of so many wounds that hurt us and could lead to a hardness of heart, we are called to dive into the sea of prayer, which is the sea of the boundless love of God, in order to experience his tenderness.
I don't know if human activity is the only cause, but mostly, in great part, it is man who has slapped nature in the face, we have in a sense taken over nature.
How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion.
At stake are the lives of many children who will be discriminated against in advance, and deprived of their human development given by a father and a mother and willed by God. At stake is the total rejection of God's law engraved in our hearts.
May no one use religion as a pretext for actions against human dignity and against the fundamental rights of every man and woman.
In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.
No one is saved alone, as an isolated individual, but God attracts us looking at the complex web of relationships that take place in the human community. God enters into this dynamic, this participation in the web of human relationships.
Leaders of the Church have often been Narcissus, flattered and sickeningly excited by their courtiers. The court is the leprosy of the papacy.
It is important to integrate immigrants into society and to welcome them in the church community.
The imposition of anomalous models and lifestyles are alien to people's identity and, in the end, are irresponsible.
The mystery of the Cross, a mystery of
love, can only be understood in prayer.
Pray and weep, kneeling before the
Cross.
The Lord is knocking at the door of our hearts. Have we put a sign on the door saying: 'Do not disturb?'
In this quest to seek and find God in all things, there is still an area of uncertainty. There must be. If a person says that he met God with total certainty and is not touched by a margin of uncertainty, then this is not good.
We are called to be 'ambassadors for Christ' (2 Cor 5:20). Ours is a ministry of reconciliation ... To be an ambassador for Christ means above all to invite everyone to a renewed personal encounter with the Lord Jesus.
The Pope is a man. The Pope needs the input of women, too. And the Pope, too, has a heart that can have a healthy, holy friendship with a woman.
Let us pray to the Lord and ask him to protect the family in the crisis with which the devil wants to destroy it. Families are the domestic church where Jesus grows in the love of a married couple, in the lives of their children.
The Church, in her wisdom, maintains the distinction between engaged and married couples -- they are not the same, today's culture and society have become rather indifferent to the delicate and serious nature of this passage.
When everything falls apart, only one thing sustains our hope: God loves us, he loves everyone!
The culture of comfort, which makes us think only of ourselves, makes us insensitive to the cries of other people.
The whole journey of life is a journey of preparation... to see, to feel, to understand the beauty of what lies ahead, of the homeland towards which we walk.
Idolatry, then, is always polytheism, an aimless passing from one lord to another. Idolatry does not offer a journey but rather a plethora of paths leading nowhere and forming a vast labyrinth.
How marvellous it would be if, at the end of the day, each of us could say: today I have performed an act of charity towards others!
We pray for the many brothers and sisters who seek refuge far from their native lands, who seek a home where they can live without fear: that they might always be respected in their dignity.
A man who does not know how to have a relationship of friendship with a woman -- I'm not talking about misogynists, who are sick -- well, he's a man who is missing something.
Holiness doesn't mean doing extraordinary things, but doing ordinary things with love and faith.
Today is my anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Please pray for me and all priests.
On the ordination of women, the church has spoken and said no. John Paul II, in a definitive formulation said that door is closed.
There are people who are afraid to go to confession, forgetting that they will not encounter a severe judge there, but the immensely merciful Father.
Whenever we take a step towards Jesus, we come to realize that he is already there, waiting for us with open arms.
To the criminals and all their accomplices, I, today, humbly and as a brother, repeat: convert yourselves to love and justice. It is possible to return to honesty. The tears of the mothers of Naples are asking this of you.
In effect, a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and the disadvantaged.
Working for a just distribution of the fruits of the earth and human labor is not mere philanthropy. It is a moral obligation.
The family remains the basic unit of society and the first school in which children learn the human, spiritual and moral values which enable them to be a beacon of goodness, integrity and justice in our communities.
Joy cannot be held at heel: it must be let go. Joy is a pilgrim virtue. It is a gift that walks, walks on the path of life, that walks with Jesus: preaching, proclaiming Jesus, proclaiming joy, lengthens and widens that path.
The parish is the presence of the Church in any given territory, an environment for hearing God's word, for growth in Christian life, for dialogue, proclamation, charitable outreach, worship and celebration.
Every economic...acti on must set about providing each inhabitant of the planet with the minimum wherewithal to live in dignity and freedom, with the possibility of supporting a family, educating children, praising God and developing one's own human potential.
Let us ask the Lord for this grace: that our hearts become free and filled with light, so that we can rejoice as children of God.
This happens today: if the investments in the banks fall slightly... a tragedy... what can be done? But if people die of hunger, if they have nothing eat, if they have poor health, it does not matter! This is our crisis today!
You can't provoke, you can't insult the faith of others, you can't make fun of faith.
The thing the Church needs most today is the ability to heal wounds and to warm the hearts of the faithful.