Roman Catholic Bishops

"All the great moments of advance in Christian history have been spurred on by a challenge or a danger. Recent events and controversies leave us in no further doubt that one of these moments is upon us now. To pretend otherwise is to shirk our responsibilities as members of the Church and fail in our mission to the world of the third millennium."

"We must move forward. These are extremists, not everyone is like that. We try to educate our people to differentiate between the terrorists and those Muslims who are not terrorists. For their part, the Muslims try to tell their people that Christians are their brothers, although there are differences. We must live together as brothers and sisters."

"Education is an essential tool to overcome religious, tribal and political barriers, as well as being an essential element for human development."

"It has not been easy taking care of the internally displaced persons who have been living at our Diocese for about six years now. The people are also tired and they want to start their lives afresh."

"In our world of darkness, we need to turn to Mary, who gave us Jesus, the light of the world. In our culture of death, we need to turn to Mary, the first disciple to hear and proclaim the gospel of life. In our secularist society, we need to turn back to God. Mary, the mother of God, and our mother, will show us the way and lead us back to her son, our Lord. The nation, the world, who forgets the mother, is in danger of forgetting the Son, in danger of losing our way back to God."

"The secret of mission work especially in areas with different cultures is to respect the people and the people will respect you."

"I am sure that both realities, prayer and medical professionalism, achieve a wonderful result. The confluence of both actions, prayer and medical care, indicates the need to consider the human person in all his dimensions: physical, psychic and spiritual. This unity needs to be healed. And this is what I live in this place of silence, meditation and rest."

"We are all disciples of the same Master in the same mission. With the White Father community in Ghardaïa, I hope to find spiritual and fraternal support in line with our White Father Charism, which is deeply rooted in my heart without for all that interfering in what is proper to them. I admit that living alone outside community will be a sacrifice for me, being the White Father that I am."

"This Pope has removed two or three bishops per month throughout the world because either the accounts in their dioceses were a mess or their discipline was a disaster."

"If we follow Jesus' thinking, spirit and deeds in our life. We can defeat the spreading of hatred, if we stop it in ourselves and instead recall the teaching of Jesus about the love to enemies. The peace, for which we have been praying for months so eagerly, first of all has to be born in ourselves. Then it can spread in the society – maybe not today, not nowadays, but in the future. The hatred kept in human heart leads to war."

"It's important to work together. And to transmit this necessity of continuing to help these people, to assist these people, with prayers and spiritual assistance, but also with concrete assistance...to contact authorities, to engage more in promoting peace and development. Also because it's the best way to avoid the problem of migration. Instead of trying to cover the emergency here (in Europe), to try to solve the problems at the root so that people don't have to leave their countries."

"Our actions whether good or evil have an ultimate significance and have effects of infinite range and scope. We stand under incalculable responsibility. We must be faithful in little things because there are no little things; we must be faithful in God’s absence because God is never absent."

"When others see our joy as Christians, they are contaminated."

"In the Church, we must remember this: it is better to be imperfect in communion than to be perfect in disunity."

"Seminaries should not be factories for priests who are already beautiful and ready."

"Pope Francis [...], invited us to face the struggle of searching within ourselves and, at the same time, not to forget God’s presence in our life. We can thus recognize a vocation when we place our deep desires in dialogue with the work that God’s grace does inside of us; thanks to this dialogue, the night of doubts and questions gradually lightens and the Lord allows us to understand which path to take."

"I have never thought of advising the Holy Father. Instead, I have always found communion with the Pope very beautiful. For my part, instead of advising, I rather try to listen to the Holy Father in order to understand well what he expects from my service, starting with some fundamental questions: What priests does the Church need today? How do we choose them? How do we form them? I see in this regard a very clear answer, ever since, at the beginning of the Pontificate, the Pope gave us the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii gaudium."

"St. Andrew Kim, and others of our forefathers, practiced what they believed, even if they lived in a society dominated by a hierarchical social system, and did their best to live the Gospel ideals of human dignity and equality among peoples."

"I don't think that Quebec can afford a pastoral approach that chooses silence and accommodation at the expense of human life and human dignity. Being discrete hasn’t served Quebec Catholicism."

"To exist, you don’t have to put in any effort, apart from may be eating. But to live, you have to do certain things, to add value to your life. Christianity is also a life. You can profess it, but add nothing to it. On the other hand, you can also go an extra mile and participate actively in the various activities of the Church."

"We encourage, especially the Christians, we encourage them to remain there because we think that their presence is so important for the country. Not just for the Church, that is so important, but also for society because they can play a very important role. And to encourage them to remain I always tell them that they have a very special mission that no one can play in their place. They have a special mission of being Christians in the Holy Land, of being Christians in a context that is difficult but is very necessary."

"In any case, this has become so frequent that now it is boring."

"Decisions must be made at any given time with wisdom and caution. But also, sometimes with courage and audacity."

"All and in all Christ! May it begin thus, may it continue thus and may it end thus in the Savior according to His will! Faithful of Šibenik, may we grow together in faith and trust in God’s omnipotence, mercy, guidance and help. I commend myself to your prayers and will return them with prayers every day. We shall not be forgotten by Our Lady or St. Michael or St. James or St. Nicholas Tavelich or all the Croatian martyrs."

"I thank the Lord, for He is the author of history: History in general or personal history. I never ever dreamt of being a Cardinal. It was the Lord who wanted it. I love the Lord, and I consecrated my life to work for Him. Being a Cardinal gives me the opportunity to do even much more for the Lord. I am incredibly grateful to the Holy Father for entrusting me with this responsibility. I love the Church; I enjoy working for the Church, and this will also give me the opportunity to do much more for it."

"We took a resolution that our churches for the next ten years were going to be creative, inclusive, and bridge-building. When that gets into your system, those three words, it doesn’t matter how other people think or feel, whoever is creating more divisions. We as church are thinking and feeling and praying that way, and therefore I feel less threatened."

"All of us are out there to be servants in the same way that Jesus served the will of the Father. It seemed to me that that’s our goal, and that we're trying to make an impact but then basically not leave a particularly big wake. You know what I mean? We come in quietly, we go out quietly."

"It was an intriguing story that met me when first installed as Bishop of the Forces and I immediately realised what a good opportunity it was, not only to return the statue, but also to demonstrate a united faith across two countries that have experienced political division."

"The nature of our society is to protect family and friend. The people in the camps cannot report dangerous criminals among them because they are family. While the closure (of the camp) may not end terror attacks, it will see a reduction in the channels for recruitments and planning of attacks."

"Only external forces with their own interests can introduce such seeds of hatred."

"I will continue with the good work. I ask all the people to pray for the priest so that we will walk together."

"Like my predecessors, I want to confirm this recognition: the apparitions and the message of the Virgin of the Poor are worthy of faith. I am particularly struck by the evangelical melody of the sign and the words. The Mother of Jesus always refers to her Son. He is the source of real life, of life in fullness. He came to bring the Good News, the gospel to the poor."

"Recognizing the grace that has been given to us in this place is also to work for its actualization for ourselves and for the men and women of today, in particular for the rising generations. Our Lady of the Poor trusted us. She associates us with her work. We therefore commit ourselves to it with generosity and fidelity, by responding to her invitation."

"Christian world views leadership as stewardship of divinely provided resources; human and material, centered on the mystery of the Trinity, Creation, the fall and redemption. As Christians when we pray the “Lord’s prayers’ we say ‘Your kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven.’ We use our right to vote in order to choose a government that will facilitate the coming on the kingdom of God on earth here and now. A kingdom that will provide our daily bread, peace, prosperity and respect for human dignity, emphasizing the common good and co-division."

"May the Lord bless you. May He carry you through the pandemic, give salvation to the dead, health to the sick, work for everyone. I also pray for priests who are victims of pressure."

"In the early years of martial law, I went through difficult times of doubt and depression, and I had to do a lot of discerning because it seemed our peaceful approach was all useless and that there was really no solution to Mindanao´s problems. I still do not see a clear solution, but I feel a more hopeful peace can be achieved if we all sacrifice a little."

"I thank the Lord for choosing me to show this people with my presence the affection and closeness of the Holy Father. My presence has also built a bridge between the Church in Korea and the Church here: we have many Korean missionaries in Bangladesh."

"The role of the priest is make Christ manifest, such that we may be like a window which is unseen. You can see the window only when it is dirty, but as long as it is clean you can see right through it, and what we want is for people to see Christ."

"I can testify to the fertility of the Word among the small and the humble."

"The Church must speak out on politics, otherwise she would betray the Gospel."

"Let us think of our country before ourselves, let us think of others before ourselves, let us thing of the teachings of the Lord."

"Relations between Catholicism and Buddhism are based on mutual respect."

"Though the Scripture says that all the baptized form one Mystical Body with Christ as its Head and that there is no separation among us whether we are "Jews or Greeks, slaves or free", the social, cultural and local systems do not permit us to put it into practice. It is because of the social system that pulls down the Christian community from the Gospel values. As such, we cannot change the existing system over night. In fact, we need more time, education and formation of the Christian community. Yes"

"It is a realization that what happens is the young become more connected to God given social media. What happens is they are touched by whatever happens and they want to promote it to others."

"We need to the right thing. Take this seriously, not to verbalize about it, and not to talk."

"I did not expect that God would act so quickly in my life. Building my relationship with God, I have never envisioned myself as a bishop. To be one is a great privilege and responsibility. From the human perspective, it is a very challenging life."

"Haiti is a very poor country. It gets a lot of negative publicity in the media because of the natural disasters, the political instability, and the violence. What I discovered here was an enormously gifted people, very creative artists, musicians, writers, and poets."

"I confess that it was personally a source of great joy when the revolution of the Pititas achieved its objective, as now a matter of great concern that the Movement to Socialism will return to power. It's not, as in sport, about my team winning or losing. I sincerely see the MAS as a great threat, not because it represents left against right – for me they are the same – but because it wants to absolutize itself with power against democracy and against the Kingdom of God, and therefore to the detriment of Bolivia and to the detriment of the Church."

"I do feel a joy in my heart, not just the fact of being a bishop, but the way that my ordination has been received by everyone: my friends from bygone days who are here, my colleagues from the Archdiocese of Santa Cruz, the people and clergy here in Cochabamba where I am an unknown quantity; everyone has been wonderfully welcoming and making their greatest effort to help me feel at home in this Church. My family that is here has brought me a real sense of joy."

"The Extraordinary Form speaks, literally (because it is in Latin), and figuratively, a different language; and I think some people who need to can come back to faith through it."