If you don’t learn how to cry, you cannot be a good Christian. When they posed this question to us – why children suffer, why this or that tragedy occurs in life – our response must be either silence or a word that is born of our tears. Be courageous, don’t be afraid to cry.
The love of God is not generic. God looks with love upon every man and woman, calling them by name.
We are all sinners. But God heals us with an abundance of grace, mercy and tenderness.
Reforming the social structures which perpetuate poverty and the exclusion of the poor first requires a conversion of mind and heart.
Human rights are not only violated by terrorism, repression or assassination, but also by unfair economic structures that creates huge inequalities.
Since many of you do not belong to the Catholic Church and others are non-believers, from the bottom of my heart I give this silent blessing to each and every one of you, respecting the conscience of each one of you but knowing that each one of you is a child of God.
I believe in the old warrior’s credo that “to the victor go the spoils.”
Jesus teaches us another way: Go out. Go out and share your testimony, go out and interact with your brothers, go out and share, go out and ask. Become the Word in body as well as spirit.
We have to work harder to develop a profound theology of women within the church. The feminine genius is needed wherever we make important decisions.
I love tango, and I used to dance when I was young.
As stewards of God’s creation, we are called to make the earth a beautiful garden for the human family.
The people of God want pastors, not clergy acting like bureaucrats or government officials.
Politics is a noble activity. We should revalue it, practise it with vocation and a dedication that requires testimony, martyrdom, that is to die for the common good.
The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the blood of Christ: all of us, not just Catholics. Everyone! ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone!
Every child that isn’t born, but is unjustly condemned to be aborted, has the face of Jesus Christ, has the face of the Lord.
Find new ways to spread the word of God to every corner of the world.
Education, work, and access to health care for all are key elements for development and the just distribution of goods, for the attainment of social justice, for membership in society, and for free and responsible participation in political life.
A person once asked me, in a provocative manner, if I approved of homosexuality. I replied with another question: ‘Tell me: when God looks at a gay person, does he endorse the existence of this person with love, or reject and condemn this person?’ We must always consider the person.
I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.
Politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion.