Cardinals

"The witness of the martyrs should not only amaze us, the testimony of the martyrs should move us, it should be an invitation to us."

"I believe that the role of the Pope is to confirm his brothers in faith, and I believe that this is why he is coming: to say that Corsica is in his heart, and that the life of the Church in Corsica is important to him, just as the life of all churches around the world is important to him."

"(About security in Europe and around the world) It cannot be achieved without the protection of human rights," but, on the other hand, "full respect of human rights can be ensured only in a secure environment, allowing individuals to enjoy the inalienable rights and freedoms to which they are all entitled as human beings."

"(About the fall of the Berlin Wall) It was not just a reminder of the end of an era of profound division; it is a symbol of hope, showing that it is possible to overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles for the benefit of what is deeply rooted in our human nature, namely life in dignity and freedom. And the fact that it was achieved in a marvelously peaceful manner makes us hopeful that it can be done again."

"(About illegal immigrants) diplomacy must explore all the possible ways so that the human person is respected. Obviously, any initiative must be fostered under international law, and with the major goal to keep peace, as the Holy Father often reiterated: 'Only with peace, can we build the future'."

"As quoted in Andrea Gagliarducci, For Cardinal Mamberti, dialogue with Muslims is a must (May 13, 2015)"

"Certainly, a dialogue with Islam may be pursued and must be pursued. Speaking about a dialogue with Islam is something abstract... we must rather pursue a dialogue with Islamic representatives, believers in Islam, and develop with them, as much as possible, common actions with them in favor of peace and development."

"The erosion of freedom of conscience also witnesses to a form of pessimism with regard to the capacity of the human conscience to recognize the good and the true, to the advantage of positive law alone, which tends to monopolize the determination of morality. It is also the Church’s role to remind people that every person, no matter what his beliefs, has, by means of his conscience, the natural capacity to distinguish good from evil and that he should act accordingly. Therein lies the source of his true freedom."

"If I knew with moral certitude that this is a sin, maybe I would not have put myself in that condition. But now I already find myself there: How can I go back? It is one thing to begin, another to interrupt."

"If authorities fail to fulfill their duties, there is a risk that society will take measures, and perhaps they will not be the most adequate."

"The positive side of this phenomenon is that it shows there is an increasing thirst for God. But those who are thirsty need to seek the right fountain: the one without the spoilt water."

"The Church will continue its work of evangelization and Christian witness as well as human development. As for the rest, it is difficult to predict."

"I think one of the main reasons the Holy Father is inviting the Church to be more synodal is in view of evangelisation. Synodality and evangelisation are two sides of the same coin. I’m pretty sure that the Holy Father is passionate about helping the human person encounter Jesus, because Jesus is the reason for our lives. His message, His person is light to the world. After all, this is what the Church is called to be, a missionary Church. It’s good to remind ourselves that the theme of this Synod is ‘For a Synodal Church: communion, participation, and mission.’ The fact that mission is the last word does not mean it is the least important. I would say mission is the most important element. I think the Holy Father would like to set the world on fire by proclaiming the Gospel. Obviously, he cannot do this by himself, but he wants all the people of God to get engaged in this mission. When I say all the people of God, I’m talking about a synodal Church, because a synodal Church is a Church where all the baptised feel engaged. They share the same faith, they also share the same responsibility to help this encounter with Jesus."

"Our fundamental word and our key witness is to make present the Good News: God loves us. Without that, we could be the most skilled, and we would not be the most qualified."

"Francis arrives with a wealth of experience in this regard. Latin America has an edge when it comes to synodality; the ‘Theology of the People of God’ is central to Latin American ecclesiology, where the hierarchy is at the service of the people of God. [...] The Holy Father is convinced that the path for the Church of the future is synodal: all the people of God must find a way to walk together because they bring with them the richness of the Holy Spirit, and only together will we be able to discern his voice."

"I would say that the 2021–2024 Synod was a "first" in many ways."

"Working together as a team allows the laity greater participation within the dynamics of responsibility. I would like that the three of us, and all of the staff of the Synod Secretariat, work out of the same spirit of collaboration and experience a new style of "synodal" leadership, a leadership of service that is less clerical and hierarchical, that allows participation and co-responsibility without at the same time abdicating the responsibilities entrusted to them."

"I have always been a believer and a practising Catholic. When I was finishing secondary school, my spiritual director asked me very delicately if I had ever considered becoming a priest. I liked the idea and said yes almost instinctively. Devoting myself to God seemed like something exciting. [...] My father and mother were strongly opposed. My sister Donata, then a twelve-year-old girl, was in favour, however, and she supported me, including financially, throughout her life."

"It's true that we mustn't and don't want to be closed to new contributions, but they have to be contributions that enrich our society, not impoverish it."

"In the Eucharist Jesus Christ nourishes us with his Body and his Blood, allowing us to share in the eternal fullness of divine life, allowing us to sit at table with Him at the Supper for which we rejoice for ever with the knowledge and love of God, communion of life with the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, with the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints, and with all those whom we have loved on this earth and whom Jesus saved with his Cross"

"While we are saying that the Catholic Church is the mother church, then we have to be true to our name and embrace all."

"If there is one thing that really brings me joy, it is not feeling like a stranger or a foreigner in any part of the world, because God is our Father and we all are called to be brothers and sisters."

"The question is not whether we help them or not, we must help! The question is how and where do we help them. We need to do it properly."

"Catholic doctrine strongly opposes abortion since man was made by God in His image, and blessed him above all other creature. Human life is the Father's most precious gift, valued and full of dignity."

"Life is the most important gift of all, anything which threatens life is not progress, it is regression. And the Church has never been in favour of regression. The Church defends progress which makes use of technology, of which the horizon is a possibility, and of ethics of which the horizon is finality. If we combine technology, science and ethics without control, then we unleash an insane machine which goes in all directions including the destruction of mankind. If instead, we combine bio-ethics and bio-genetics we indicate a path leading to the edification rather than the annihilation of mankind. Ethics alone are able to understand when "progress" will destroy man: ethics accept everything which edifies man and reject all which aims to destroy man."

"We wish very much the Pope's visit will create an understanding between the people who are living in Thailand of different culture, different belief."

"Francis will go down in history as the Pope of reform. He has done a great deal to reform the Church, and this must continue, and I believe it will continue, for the simple reason that before leaving office he concluded the cycle of the Synod on synodality. And what has been produced by this Synod has become a heritage for the whole Church. Interviewer: You mentioned synodality. In mid-March, Francis approved the start of a synodal journey that should lead to an ecclesial assembly in 2028. Can we say that this synodal journey remains unfinished? Cardinal Ambongo: I wouldn't say unfinished. The Pope always repeated: "I pray to the Lord that he will grant me enough time so that the reforms that have begun can reach the point of no return." I believe that the reform initiatives undertaken by Francis have now reached that point. That is why I am convinced that the reforms will continue."

"We have the impression, at least from the outside, that the West is losing its roots, and the roots of the West are precisely the values that the West brought us during colonisation, and we believed in these values; but today we see that these values no longer exist for the West, and this confuses us a little. We ask ourselves: where is the West going with this kind of approach? And when I say that the West is in danger of disappearing, it is because a people is also its culture, but we have the impression that the West is no longer willing to embrace its culture: everything is relativised, everything is questioned, and this, in any case, disturbs us."

"(About the Synod on Synodality) So, coming to this Synod, the intention was not to address this or that problem. The main intention, the primary objective of the Synod, is about how we can become a new Church together, acquire a new way of being the Church; in our way of being, in our operating structures, in our collaboration structures."

"The Pope himself considered his trip to Congo one of his most important apostolic visits."

"It has always been important for the Capuchins to encourage lay people to take an active part in the Church and in effect we have many local lay Catholics in the Franciscan Tertiary Order. This is very encouraging for us because the collaboration of well-prepared lay people is necessary for the apostolate."

"The Indian Constitution is in danger and many people live with a feeling of insecurity. It is urgent to protect the values of the Constitution, including the freedom to practice one's own religion. In this context, especially with the approaching of the general elections, we must strive to better understand our Constitution and do more to protect it."

"Follow the path of the saints, they left their comfort zones to serve the people of God, sharing with them the Word of God which heals and gives life."

"In the Middle East and other parts of the world so many innocent people are still convicted. Justice is trampled, and men and women are killed for their faith. We entrust their lives to Jesus Christ."

"My opinion is that the best law is an education of quality, that begins in the family, grows at school and finds in society a stimulus for the formation of people. We are greatly lacking in civic friendship, we look at one another as mad people and not as brethren or as people who share the same ideal, the same purpose."

"Why have accusations that were published and dismissed one year ago been published now, only 8 days before I present my resignation to Pope Francis, since I will have reached the age limit of 75? I will keep serving as long as the Holy Father wishes so."

"Above all, I believe sports have given me the God´s gift of ease to relate to people. It is very easy for me to be with people of any age, social condition or circumstance. Sports helps you not to have barriers. This has helped me a lot in the priesthood. In the second place, I would say that in sports, one works as a team. One person doesn't win, the whole team does. Moreover, I have played basketball especially. This also leads one to see the need to be organized. Each one has to give his best. The leader is not the one who carries a plan forward. He is the one who creates conditions in such a way that each one can give the best of himself. He is not the one in front carrying the flag. This is also very important in the priesthood and the episcopate. In the third place, as in sports, it is very important to know how to struggle. Life, for a man who wants to be loyal in the Church today, is a real struggle. Today we cannot say that the Church is synonymous with success — on the contrary."

"The country is very diverse, geographically, ethnically, so the reality that the bishops have on the coast, in the mountains, or in the jungle is very different."

"I believe that the religious have two main tasks. On the one hand, as Ezekiel says, to behave like sentinels, not spies: when there is a threat we must warn and try to solve the problem before it explodes, it is a very big responsibility and if there are so many problems it means that the sentinels did not carry out their job well. Then we must be intercessors and when there is hostility between two groups, families or people, we have to mediate in truth. It is also essential to always keep prayer alive for the Country and for the protagonists so that God converts the heart. Now, it can be said, that the heart of many is of stone, it is up to us to make it flesh. Religions here seek a common line to promote peace."

"Money and the desperate quest for it, deeply affect every aspect of human life, mostly on a daily basis, and people should be aware of the prevalence of this dangerous trend that has also taken root among Indonesian Catholics. Indonesians, even Catholics, are easily influenced by money, position and social status. And this leads people to believe in values that are not based on our moral or cultural attitudes. This moral decadence is a very serious problem that we must face daily."

"He knows what he wants, he's a good Jesuit, and the Jesuits know exactly what they want."

"When we come together, we try to search for a collective effort in spite of our differences. We are split and scattered by the ocean, but we must find ways to tackle our issues."

"Leadership without sound principles is, in my view, the main one. How shall we address this problem? I see no other way other than education. We should influence family and formal education to include basic democratic principles which we find in the Social Doctrine of the Church."

"To understand the vocation and mission of these centuries-old institutions, perhaps the most correct thing to do is to recall the centrality of the dimension of memory in the life of the Church. It truly bases its existence on the historical and sacramental memory of Jesus’s words and actions. The Church is all the more alive the more it is aware of the living memory that pulses within it and assures its continuity. The Library and the Archives are antidotes to amnesia. For example, one of the fundamental missions of the Apostolic Library is to conserve some of the most ancient specimens of the manuscript tradition of Sacred Scripture. That alone should be enough to consider it as the heart of the Church."

"I don't know these so-called priests, and the Church should not be scared. Many such people have emerged in Uganda and gone. I advise Ugandans neither to follow nor listen to them because they intend to divide the church."

"We need to take care of our environment both for our own generation and for the generation to come. In connection with future generation it is important to note that rapid population growth can contribute to environmental deterioration. The Catholic Church, while holding every human life dear and sacred, has nevertheless for decades believed in and taught responsible parenthood. This teaching and the acceptable methods need to be propagated both for the promotion of individual persons and families and for the protection of environment."

"Peace is the gift of God. Peace is realized through fraternal love. Peace is not something to enjoy alone but something to share. Peace of the Korean Peninsula becomes even more meaningful when we are able to contribute to the well-being and prosperity of our neighbor countries and countries around the world."

"The Church is present practically everywhere in the country. Wherever you look around the country -- where poverty is rife, where violence is spreading, where catastrophes take place -- the Church is present and the church is a first responder, but the church also suffers because we too are a victim of these natural catastrophes."

"Make your hearts tender so that the grace the God of life abundantly grants us will drench you, and you will experience his salvation. Make your hearts tender so that you will not be indifferent to the pain or suffering of anyone."

"We have to lead by an example of love. Law is something that is of help, but our guide is the Gospel."