We consider Christmas as the encounter, the great encounter, the historical encounter, the decisive encounter, between God and mankind. He who has faith knows this truly; let him rejoice.
I met a hundred men going to Delhi and everyone is my brother.
Are there memories left that are safe from the clutches of phony anniversaries?
Excessive economic, social and cultural inequalities among peoples arouse tensions and conflicts, and are a danger to peace.
It is called the real presence, not in an exclusive sense, as though other forms of presence were not real, but by reason of its excellence. It is the substantial presence by which Christ is made present without doubt, whole and entire, God and man.
Christ did not found an abstract religion, a mere school of religious thought. He setup a community of apostles, of teachers, with the task of spreading His message and so giving rise to a society of believers: His Church. He promised the Spirit of truth to His Church and then sent Him.
A dimple on the chin, the devil within.
The older the fiddler, the sweeter the tune.
Idleness or boredom has no place in the life of a Christian.
You must strive to multiply bread so that it suffices for the tables of mankind, and not rather favor an artificial control of birth, which would be irrational, in order to diminish the number of guests at the banquet of life.
The transmission of human life is a most serious role in which married people collaborate freely and responsibly with God the Creator.
The work of art, just like any fragment of human life considered in its deepest meaning, seems to me devoid of value if it does not offer the hardness, the rigidity, the regularity, the luster on every interior and exterior facet, of the crystal.
Lord, to whom should we go? Thy words are the words of eternal life.
The pope-and we know this well-is without doubt the most serious obstacle on the ecumenical road.
The pope is becoming a missionary, you will say. Yes, the pope is becoming a missionary, which means a witness, a shepherd, an apostle on the move.
The freedom or immunity from coercion in matters religious, which is the endowment of persons as individuals, is also to be recognized as their right when they act in community. Religious communities are a requirement of the social nature both of man and of religion itself.
If you believe in peace it is possible. If it is possible it is a duty.
If evils increase, the devotion of the People of God should also increase.
Priestly celibacy has been guarded by the Church for centuries as a brilliant jewel, and retains its value undiminished even in our time when the outlook of men and the state of the world have undergone such profound changes.
Satan’s smoke has made its way into the Temple of God through some crack.
Justice is not always an open and shut case – sometimes we have to work for it. If you want peace, you must work for justice.