Cardinals

"God's charity, which makes us brothers and sisters, is at the heart of the Gospel, and with Leo XIII, we can ask ourselves today: if this criterion ‘were to prevail in the world, would not all strife cease and peace return?’ (Encyclical Letter Rerum novarum, 21). With the light and strength of the Holy Spirit, let us build a Church founded on God's love and a sign of unity, a missionary Church that opens its arms to the world, proclaims the Word, allows itself to be unsettled by history, and becomes a leaven of harmony for humanity. Together, as one people, as Fratelli tutti [brothers and sisters], let us walk towards God and love one another."

"With great joy I extend my cordial greetings to all of you, Representatives of other Churches and Ecclesial Communities, as well as of other religions, who participated in the inaugural celebration of my ministry as Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter. [...] One of the strong emphases of Pope Francis’ pontificate was that of universal fraternity. In this regard the Holy Spirit really “urged” him to advance with great strides the initiatives already undertaken by previous Pontiffs, especially since Saint John XXIII. The Pope of Fratelli Tutti promoted both the ecumenical path and interreligious dialogue. He did so above all by cultivating interpersonal relations, in such a way that, without taking anything away from ecclesial bonds, the human trait of the encounter was always valued. May God help us to treasure his witness! [...]"

"To all of you, brothers and sisters of Rome, of Italy, of the whole world, we want to be a synodal Church, a Church that walks, a Church that always seeks peace, that always seeks charity, which always seeks to be close especially to those who suffer."

"War does not solve problems; on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of peoples, which take generations to heal. No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, or stolen futures. May diplomacy silence the weapons! May nations chart their futures with works of peace, not with violence and bloodstained conflicts!"

"In order to feed the thousands of people who came to listen to him and to ask for healing, Jesus invited the Apostles to bring him what little they had; he then blessed the loaves and fishes, and told them to distribute them to everyone. The result was astonishing: not only did everyone receive enough food, but there was an abundance left over … Beyond being a marvel, the miracle is a "sign" that reminds us that God’s gifts, even the smallest, grow whenever they are shared. Reading this on the day of Corpus Christi, however, leads us to reflect on an even deeper reality. For we know that at the root of every human sharing lies a greater sharing that precedes it, namely God’s sharing with us."

"I am a son of St. Augustine, an Augustinian, who said: “I am a Christian with you and a bishop for you.” In this sense we can all walk together towards that homeland that God has prepared for us. A special greeting to the Church of Rome! We must seek together how to be a missionary Church, a Church that builds bridges, dialogue, always open to receive like this square with open arms. All of them, all those who need our charity, our presence, dialogue and love."

"Two events related to clergy sexual abuse have touched the figure of Prevost. The first dates back to the early 2000s, when, as Augustinian provincial in Chicago, he was involved in a case of hospitality to a priest already convicted of paedophilia. The second, more recent, concerns his episcopate in Peru: he allegedly handled an investigation into two priests accused of molestation with little transparency."

"°I consider myself an amateur tennis player. [...] I really enjoy reading, going for long walks, travelling, seeing new places and enjoying the countryside in a different environment. I like to relax with friends and get to know people who are so different from me, whose gifts I learn from and appreciate greatly."

"Peace be with you all! Dear brothers and sisters, this is the first greeting of the Risen Christ, the good shepherd who gave his life for the flock of God. I too would like this greeting of peace to enter your heart, to reach your families, to all people, wherever they are, to all peoples, to all the earth. Peace be with you! This is the peace of the Risen Christ, an unarmed peace and a disarming, humble and persevering peace. He comes from God, God who loves us all unconditionally."

"One of the things that comes to mind when I think of St Augustine, his vision and his understanding of what it means to belong to the Church, is what he says about not being able to say you are a follower of Christ without being part of the Church. Christ is part of the Church. He is the head. So anyone who thinks they can follow Christ ‘in their own way’ without being part of the body is, unfortunately, a distortion of what is an authentic experience. St Augustine has an omnipresent wisdom that helps us to live in communion. Unity and communion are essential charisms of the life of the Order and a fundamental part of understanding what the Church is and what it means to be in the Church."

"Being a good shepherd means being able to accompany God's people and live close to them, not being isolated. Pope Francis has said this clearly many times. He does not want bishops who live in palaces. He wants bishops who live in relationship with God, with the rest of the episcopate, with priests and, above all, with the people of God in a way that reflects the compassion and love of Christ, creating community, learning to live what it means to be part of the Church in an integral way that includes much listening and dialogue."

"The priorities of pastoral work will always be different in one place or another, but recognising the great richness of the diversity of the People of God is tremendously helpful because it makes us more sensitive to reaching out and responding better to what is expected of us."

"We still keep in our ears that weak but always courageous voice of Pope Francis who blessed Rome! The Pope who blessed Rome gave his blessing to the world, to the whole world, that morning of Easter Day. Allow me to follow up that same blessing: God loves us, God loves you all, and evil will not prevail! We are all in God’s hands. Therefore, without fear, united hand in hand with God and we move forward with each other. We are disciples of Christ. Christ is before us. The world needs its light. Humanity needs Him as the bridge to be reached by God and His love. Help us too, then one another to build bridges, with dialogue, with encounter, all by uniting us to be one people always at peace. Thank you to Pope Francis!"

"Ideologies have become more powerful than humanity's real experience, faith, and the different values we live by. Some will misunderstand unity as uniformity: ‘You must be like us.’ No, it cannot be so. Nor can diversity be understood as a way of living without criteria or order. The latter lose sight of the fact that since the very creation of the world, the gift of nature, the gift of human life, the gift of so many different things that we experience and celebrate, cannot be sustained by inventing my own rules and doing things my way. These are ideological positions. When an ideology becomes, so to speak, the master of my life, then I can no longer dialogue with another person because I have already decided how things will be. Therefore, I am closed to encounter and transformation cannot take place. And this can happen anywhere in the world, on any subject. This obviously makes it very difficult to be Church, to be community, to be brothers and sisters."

"Il se mettra en chemin un peu tard, mais il ira plus loin qu'un autre."

"Do you know how many stars there are in the observable universe? An impressive and marvellous number: a sextillion stars – a 1 followed by 24 zeros! If we divided them among the 8 billion inhabitants of Earth, each person would have hundreds of billions of stars to themselves. With the naked eye, on clear nights, we can see about five thousand of them. However, they show us a direction, just like when sailing at sea. Travellers have always found their way using the stars. Sailors followed the North Star; Polynesians crossed the ocean by memorising star charts. According to the farmers of the Andes, whom I met as a missionary in Peru, the sky is an open book that marks the seasons of sowing, shearing, and the cycles of life. Even the Magi followed a star to get to Bethlehem and worship the Baby Jesus."

"Sinner: The ball, there it is. If you want to play a little. Pope Leo XIV: But we'll break something here! We'd better not."

"It will be a pontificate in continuity with the magisterium of Pope Francis. I am very happy about that. This is what the majority of the cardinals wanted ... but with a style of their own. [...] Pope Leo XIV, in his first message, spoke of a “synodal Church.” Having participated in the work of the Synod, we have a Pope who knows synodality, who understands it, who dares to be synodal. There will not be a revolution, but an evolution."

"I also want to thank all my brother cardinals who chose me to be Peter's successor and to walk with you as a united Church, always seeking peace, justice, always trying to work as men and women faithful to Jesus Christ, without fear, to proclaim the Gospel, to be missionaries."

"Perseverance is a great gift that the Lord is ready to offer us. But we must learn to welcome it and make it come alive, to be strong. It is one of those gifts that are built up over time, in the small trials of the beginning that help us to be stronger, to be able to carry the Cross when it becomes heavier. It is what enables us and makes us capable of moving forward."

"The mission of Christ is to teach all about repentance, conversion and to build the Kingdom of God. The constitution, carta magna, of the kingdom of God is the greatest and new commandment of love of God and our neighbour. Like Christ, the bishop must teach the law that commands us to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us. The greatest love is excelled in giving our life for God and others."

"Apart from the catastrophic sacrifices and material and human consequences, wars destroyed the future ethical norms and moral values of many generations. In years of many wars this territory was penetrated by a wave of deep and primordial hatred which in the rage of war destroyed human hearts and all human relations and certainly religious relations. For 45 years communism ploughed negative furrows in the souls of many people. It destroyed most of what not even World War II had erased. It destroyed the sense of the holy, the sacred, morals and honesty, the religious and ecclesiastical sense."

"The Christian, conscious of his mission, translates his faith into his life. Faith does not impoverish and does not shrink culture, but on the contrary is the radiating leaven. Like the rainbow radiates all its colours, the Church in Africa is resplendent with the beauty of the Gospel progressively inculturated in all of its cultures and already fruitful bearers of holiness for the entire Church and the whole world."

"In the case of Archbishop Romero, Providence left very clear marks for who is sincerely seeking the truth about his life and death."

"The Church of Rome is not spotless, it is not hard and pure like a utopia, whose only real quality would be that of not existing. Instead it exists, with its features marked strongly by time and space, by men and their stone constructions. Thus, the vocation of Rome is the incarnation of the faith."

"The ministry of a Bishop must help to make the world which is becoming dehumanized become Ecclesia, a people in communion and a worshipping people."

"To me, he's a man who symbolizes what it means to be a man of service.. service for the people of God and service for the Church."

"Cardinal Mazombwe was always among us in his humble way as one at our service. He was a man of conviction, a man of faith, a man of prayer."

"I have been amazed to see the constant flow of pilgrims who come to show their devotion to Mary from all over the continent and this is a sort of mark of our people. This is for me an example and an encouragement for my own personal life of faith."

"The answer is to live to its fullest our faith in Jesus and to openly proclaim the supreme gift of God to humanity: grace and salvation through Jesus made man. The answer is to live our ecclesial life in Jesus more intensely, and openly proclaim the message of salvation, clearly and boldly, without disputes between churches and in the joy of our Catholic identity."

"I have been a priest for 60 years and I would never have imagined that I would find myself in such a difficult and dramatic situation. I believe that Mary still has to help us a lot. If we do not make a vow we should at least make a promise to be more faithful and disciples of Christ."

"The living out of the Good News that is the coming of the Kingdom of justice and peace is being blocked and undermined by the economic injustices that disregard the basic conditions for human dignity and integral human development. Jesus' mission of proclaiming the Good News to the poor is our mission as Church and therefore we must necessarily address the conditions within which the poor are greatly suffering."

"The election of a Pope is an act of faith, not a political act. Therefore whoever is elected is the Vicar of Christ, since we know in faith that Christ Jesus in person leads his Church."

"I believe that today our African Churches need a lay faithful who bears witness of a deeply Christian life, a lay faithful who has a very strong spine, a lay person who is committed and inspires confidence to his own Church and who contributes to its self-sufficiency in material needs. For how long must we depend on our sister Churches for our material needs? A lay faithful who has been deeply formed by solid Christian principles would be a great help for solving many problems which oppress us."

"He became the servant of his brethren, making available to them those choice qualities with which he was endowed, such as his vast knowledge acquired though study, especially in the field of law. However, over and above his pastoral work, more than anything he gave of himself, demonstrating everywhere holiness of life and constant apostolic longing."

"Personal and intellectual qualities are not guarantees of being the right person to take on the guidance of a flock. The episcopate is a grace that must be lived pastorally. It cannot be conferred as a prize or as confirmation or as a political function."

"My childhood was that of a very simple and serene child, in a village in northern Spain, a small village on the sea, a fishing village: a context that has deeply marked me, starting from nature, the sea, the sun. I was a child and then a teenager who grew up in a very healthy, very humble family of fishermen, where everything was simple, where the affection of my parents was sincere, with a grandmother, an uncle, with other grandparents and uncles and emotional ties that allowed me to grow with great emotional confidence and which I believe made me a boy, then a young man and then an adult who was particularly serene, quiet, affectionate, expansive, full of feelings. Q: How did your Salesian vocation come about? A: For two reasons. First of all, I grew up in a happy family. A simple and genuine Christian environment where God was present, where devotion to Mary was alive, where I saw how my father, my uncle, when they left for the sea, trusted in God because the sea can be very treacherous and they did not know what they would encounter. And then because I was able to study with the Salesians. An elderly person who was a friend of the Salesians in Leon and who spent his summer holidays in my village was a good friend of my parents and thought that the best thing he could do for this child, who was me, was for him to study with the Salesians. I left my village like this, met the Salesians and was very impressed by how the Salesians treated me and my companions, by their friendship, spontaneity, affability, simplicity. All this meant that I was somewhat anxious,because although I had already conmpleted the documentation to enter the University to study medicine or chemistry, the desire welled up in me to try a choice of life that promised happiness, with the Salesians."

"Q: Who would Ángel Fernández Artime be today if he had not known the Salesians? A: Had I not known the Salesians, I was going to be a fisherman, like my cousins or my father. That was my future. But once I was able to study more, thanks to the Salesians, I thought I would be a doctor. I liked medicine so much that I had thought of starting my college studies towards it. But then, the mystery of God that makes you feel something special in your heart… I remember that already as I was to begin my college studies, I felt I had to talk to my parents about it. And the answer, which I cannot but see as a mediation from God, was: ‘Son, this is your life. If it makes you happy, go!”. That was the whole discernment."

"I do not believe that young people of today do not want to know about God... much less that they do not seek meaning in life. That would be an incorrect judgement. What is true is that we cannot expect young people to come to us... We are duty bound to reach them. But the reality is that, all over the world, young people are open and available to be reached if they find someone who can be their educators, be their friends."

""I am still that little boy from Luanco, where I really feel at home among my people and my compatriots. It is essential in life not to forget our roots. [...] I will continue to be the same, with a different responsibility, but profoundly human and solidly grounded. [...] Feels very happy to accompany young people in their life. It is in my DNA, and wherever I go and whatever I am asked to do, there will always be attention to the young, to education, to the most vulnerable, and this is what I will be able to offer, together with my personal style, to my new service, where I will try to give the best of myself, through dialogue and respect for diversity."

"I am honoured to receive this charge from the Holy Father. Of course I have no pastoral plan for the archdiocese of Manila. I will elaborate it with all the components of the local Church once I have taken possession. But the overall plan is always the same: to render present the Kingdom of God, give space to evangelisation and also to personal reflection and works of charity."

"Together with those who declare their membership of other religions there are also more people who do not practice any religion. It is a matter of individualism and subjectivism. This complex situation requires a differentiated, complete pastoral response."

"We are at a critical stage of the journey to peace and a shared future in Northern Ireland. We need investment for peace, stability and growth, not measures that leave tens of thousands of our young people without hope or a stake in a better future. We know that our local politicians could take their own decisions on this matter but we want to support them in making the case to Westminster that Northern Ireland does have unique circumstances."

"The new Pontiff, as he has said himself, will act in continuity with his predecessor Pope John Paul II, that is, he will continue along the path of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, the implementation of Vatican II, the search for peace and security for all. The latter is particularly dear to the hearts of Africans, victims of decades of war for which the international community finds it hard to provide suitable solutions."

"The process towards worldliness, in great part fruit of urban, modern, and post-modern culture, which afflicts the family today, profoundly weakens fundamental family values, as, with respect to life, matrimonial indissolubility, conjugal fidelity, and religious education of children."

"It is not only humans who are controlled by fihavanana but the whole cosmos with all elements that form it: the stars, the mineral world, the vegetable world, the animal world, the human body, etc.. and that give us some examples of fihavanana in negative or positive. Many proverbs express and show these statements. From this value of fihavanana, theological reflection on truths of the Christian revelation has been done with adjustments, purification and the necessary overcoming."

"Let us speak out not as experts, but rather as Pastors of the American continent."

"A lot of people are really afraid that we are going to start imposing things through the government. I have absolutely no nostalgic feelings for that time. I want to go forward. Of course, we have nothing to impose on anyone — not the government nor the people. We want to propose but not impose. We propose and present the message and people are free to accept it."

"Il n’y a rien dans ce monde qui n’ait un moment decisif."

"Secularization should not scare us, but must be an opportunity for witnessing and proclaiming the Faith. Secularization is a field of evangelization"