Roman Catholic Priests

"Magical practices, in their many forms, are a trap that our invisible enemies set in our path to lead us away from goodness and truth and make us their prisoners."

"One can lead a seemingly normal life without knowing that one is possessed by the Devil."

"Satan can attack tirelessly, but he cannot triumph."

"When we fight with the devil, we must remain ‘seated’ in Christ. To perform exorcisms, absolute chastity is required."

"Man no longer has a spiritual plan for his life when he uses God for his own needs, to fill the void of his existence."

"The true exorcist knows that he must pay a very high price for his ministry."

"Ultimately, Satan is interested in snatching souls away from God, and he does not want to take possession of the body just to lead it to spiritual death, which is far worse than physical death."

"Magical and superstitious beliefs and practices are a way that allows these forces of evil to enslave us more and more."

"Our reaction against the Devil's actions thus becomes a means of spiritual progress. In this way, demons become servants of the Lord in spite of themselves."

"Exorcism has no effect on the will of a person who freely chooses to sin."

"The soul of those who are habitually in mortal sin is enslaved to the Devil, but the majority of those who are in mortal sin are not possessed by the devil."

"The demonic world is not a subjective persuasion of some, but is a reality, an objective fact, which God has revealed to us."

"The Devil is not able to give his devotees everything he promises."

"The Devil seeks to know our evil inclinations and obtains this knowledge, in the ordinary way, through temptation."

"The Devil and demons, being created, [...] are necessarily limited in their being and acting."

"The Devil cannot inhabit the soul; there can be no "demonic possession of the soul" [but solely of the flesh]."

"Demons cannot know our souls or our thoughts."

"Demons cannot know the future."

"Just as an illness does not affect a person's eternal salvation, so possession does not affect goodness, will, or love for God."

"Lucifer (in Italian Lucifero), rather than being the actual name of the Devil, is a highly expressive image used to indicate what was initially the most beautiful angel created by God."

"Man is undeniably responsible for the evil he voluntarily commits, but in the history of creation, the initiative, in an absolute sense, to do evil does not belong to man but to Satan."

"The theme of the fall of the rebellious angels is fundamental to understanding the mystery of evil."

"The Devil was condemned for pride, and those who are proud become like the Devil, consequently falling into his own condemnation."

"Exorcisms, on the other hand, have nothing to do with witchcraft: indeed, they are its antithesis."

"Angels and demons are beings completely devoid of any form of matter."

"Where there is genuine demonic possession, exorcisms instil confidence, strength and serenity in the soul of the person undergoing them, ensuring and sustaining their ability to fight and overcome evil spirits."

"It is for the Catholic apologist to prove in detail that, however deep and far-reaching the significance attributed by the Evangelists to the facts which they relate, those facts cannot simply be resolved into myth and legend. Nature also is a parable; but it is real."

"There is a middle position, represented by the judgment of serious, right-minded men, which commends itself to the commonsense public. I need not say that I believe that position to be mine; I may deceive myself. But the folly of some of the theories is as repugnant to me as the foolishness of some of the legends. I think even that if I had to choose I should prefer the legends, for in them at least there is always some poetry and something of the soul of a people."

"Eccentric in appearance and manner, he was brimful of genuine and multifarious learning."

"Christianity must win upon men, as Christ did, by veiling its majesty before it reveals it. Men of retiring and devotional habits must first attract that majesty to themselves, and then it will draw to them others, upon whom an ostentatious display of knowledge would not have exercised any really beneficial influence."

"It is surprising (I would observe) to reflect how many forms of spirit and idol-worship are (to their degradation be it said) common with Malaysian and Caucasian. (See in our own periodicals, published presumably by bright-minded, clean-souled Christian philosophers, yes, see in these oracles of our fireside, advertisements of magicians, diviners, fortune-tellers, charm-workers, not to speak of other law breakers, whose mere self-interest seems to have dulled all true intellective sense.)"

"For Catholics it would be superfluous to ask whether Ultramontanism and Catholicism are the same thing: assuredly, those who combat Ultramontanis are in fact combating Catholicism, even when they disclaim the desire to oppose it."

"Chaplain Liteky distinguished himself by exceptional heroism while serving with Company A, 4th Battalion, 12th Infantry, 199th Light Infantry Brigade. He was participating in a search-and-destroy operation when Company A came under intense fire from a battalion-size enemy force. Momentarily stunned from the immediate encounter that ensued, the men hugged the ground for cover. Observing two wounded men, Chaplain Liteky moved to within 15 meters of an enemy machine-gun position to reach them, placing himself between the enemy and the wounded men. When there was a brief respite in the fighting, he managed to drag them to the relative safety of the landing zone. Inspired by his courageous actions, the company rallied and began placing a heavy volume of fire upon the enemy positions. In a magnificent display of courage and leadership, Chaplain Liteky began moving upright through the enemy fire, administering last rites to the dying and evacuating the wounded. Noticing another trapped and seriously wounded man, Chaplain Liteky crawled to his aid. Realizing that the wounded man was too heavy to carry, he rolled on his back, placed the man on his chest and through sheer determination and fortitude crawled back to the landing zone using his elbows and heels to push himself along. Pausing for breath momentarily, he returned to the action and came upon a man entangled in the dense, thorny underbrush. Once more intense enemy fire was directed at him, but Chaplain Liteky stood his ground and calmly broke the vines and carried the man to the landing zone for evacuation. On several occasions when the landing zone was under small-arms and rocket fire, Chaplain Liteky stood up in the face of hostile fire and personally directed the medivac helicopters into and out of the area. With the wounded safely evacuated, Chaplain Liteky returned to the perimeter, constantly encouraging and inspiring the men. Upon the unit's relief on the morning of 7 December 1967, it was discovered that despite painful wounds in the neck and foot, Chaplain Liteky had personally carried over 20 men to the landing zone for evacuation during the savage fighting. Through his indomitable inspiration and heroic actions, Chaplain Liteky saved the lives of a number of his comrades and enabled the company to repulse the enemy. Chaplain Liteky's actions reflect great credit upon himself and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army."

"I consider it an honor to be going to prison as a result of an act of conscience in response to a moral imperative that impelled and obligated me to speak for the voices silenced by graduates of the School of the Americas... We're doing acts of civil disobedience in the tradition of our democracy."

"If there is an enemy here, it's violence. We need to protest and boycott violence because we eat, drink and sleep it in our country; we are entertained by it. If we don't stop, we're just going to join in an unending cycle of violence, like an escalator that keeps going up and up and up."

"It's difficult to be an iconoclast. It's much easier to go along. Men like Liteky are people who should force us to pause and think. They should not be ostracized and criticized. They are entitled to their views, and perhaps if we listened, we'd be better off."

"Certum est enim, longos esse crines omnibus sed breves sensus mulieribus."

"Nam et escae execrantur quae saepius sumuntur."

"His boundless devotion and self-sacrifice during the terrible outbreak of cholera will always be remembered; for the hero, having himself contracted the disease, died a victim of brotherly love."

"En cosas, mayormente de mujeres, Jamas tuvo segura la balanza: Allí son mas inciertos los placeres, Y está mucho mas cierta la mudanza."

"Do son todas mugeres, nunca mengua renzilla."

"Quien matar quisier su can, achaque le levanta porque non le dé del pan."

"Economics, ethics, sociology, politics are drawn together by the complex problems of property and each has much to learn from the others."

"Speaking of communication means talking about communion, starting with us, members of the Church, within the Catholic community. Our effort cannot be to learn a fundraising technique: to be a Church, to consider the recipient as a person, with his needs, is the basis of every proposal to raise awareness of donation."

"It is easier to understand how a schism continues than how it began. Schisms are easily made; they are enormously difficult to heal. The religious instinct is always conservative; there is always a strong tendency to continue the existing state of things. At first the schismatics were reckless innovators; then with the lapse of centuries their cause seems to be the old one; it is the Faith of the Fathers."

"His learning was extensive, covering theology, canon law, philosophy, mathematics, and letters, to which was added an exceptional gift of oratory."

"The doctrine was thenceforth looked on as heterodox by the Church. It was destined, nevertheless, to be revived."

"They are always watching out for me, asking me if I need help. I feel protected by them."

"I always lived with them, and I was always struck by the violence of the authorities toward the poor."

"He was of a sweet, modest, simple disposition, of lively faith and deep piety."