Catholics From Germany

"The stable relationship between a man and a woman who will be physically and spiritually fertile through adoption needs to be defended. The family needs all the legal support and appreciation society can give, all of the Church’s contribution in the spiritual dimension, so that it can be strengthened, so that it can continue to be the basic cell."

"It is unacceptable and incompatible with Christianity to think of the protection of life in ethnic terms."

"The marked reduction in pilgrims threatens the existence of Palestinian Christians. Their situation has greatly worsened."

"The Word of the Bible is not taken as a mere information ABOUT Jesus but as a sacramental sign of Christ's presence among us."

"Things won't always be harmonious - incidentally, they never have been. However, we must endeavour to achieve the greatest possible unity in the local church and the universal church, which is also the essence of the episcopal office. We must not give up the struggle for unity, despite all the disputes about factual issues and sensitivities that will always exist. We must not resign ourselves to falling out."

"Those who want to be and remain Catholic will therefore naturally demand a nationwide offer of diverse help for pregnant women in conflict situations/"

"God is God for everyone. To be ambassadors of peace we must orient our lives on this model, to hunger for justice, be merciful and clement, opt for the poor, the elderly and the weak."

"The Catholic Church in the European Union considers any attempt on the fundamental right to freedom of religion as unacceptable. The criminalization of circumcision is a very grave measure that raises deep concern."

"There will never be a perfect world. A bishop knows that well."

"Homosexuality is not a sin. It corresponds to a Christian attitude."

"(Without Karl Marx) there would not be any Catholic social doctrine."

"The survival and the new promising flowering of the Catholic Church in Estonia after centuries of marginalization and persecution should also be, notwithstanding her modest size, a reason for joy and for hope for the whole Church of Christ in Europe and the world. The living Christ in his Church can become, as the Estonian Church is showing, even in difficult conditions, an unexpected source of new life and a new springtime of the Church."

"The notion that a Catholic organization can function or work without the dimension of evangelization undermines the essential foundation and purpose of the entity. Engaging with the world does not mean the incorporation of the world's values and beliefs into the Church, but rather, the infusion of the Gospel into the world for its salvation."

"It is not our task to now go and invent a new Church by ourselves. The Church is not just leverage that we have been handed to exercise [as we see fit]. Rather, it is our task as bishops to preserve the faith of the Church, as it has come down to us from the apostles, and to say and proclaim it afresh in our times, and also to preserve it for generations to come, and to express it for them in such a way that they too can encounter Christ as their salvation."

"Currents exist that try to diminish the spiritual office of the Church to a merely organizational function. To combat this ecclesiological relativism, we must be firmly anchored to the sacramental aspect of the episcopal office, which is also valid for the priesthood and the diaconate."

"Thousands of communities meet on Sunday not for the Eucharist but for a service of the Word. We cannot allow this situation to continue. If the faithful and the priests become used to this wound in our faith life, they will give up looking for solutions. We vehemently oppose other distortions of our faith; therefore we must reject this one as well."

"We are the first pioneers of a future of which most men and women know nothing. This should fill every student with a deep Catholic awareness and a humble conviction of victory. Of course students must also become experts in precise methods of missionary pastoral. But methods are only a means and as such of secondary importance: the most important thing is the joy which comes from knowing God, from knowing what we believe this joy is our strength."

"What matters is a knowledge of history, discernment, and the understanding that the "holiness of the Church" does not mean the moral blamelessness of all its members, but the gift of the Lord to communicate his presence, his salvation, precisely in fragile vessels."

"Missionaries with most success are not the most learned but the ones who use the Rosary as means for Mission. In my diocese many people have little technical knowledge but they pray and so they evangelise with the Rosary and they are the ones whose missionary work is most fruitful. Instead of speeches and explanations on spiritual themes, what people need is to experience the living God and this is only possible through prayer."

"What should be hope for the Church is actually a tremendous headache from an institutional perspective. I have witnessed many bishops here saying, "No, vocations are on the rise." They don't say the same thing about religious vocations because evidently that would be a lie as the numbers are very clear."

"From a biological point of view, we all advance with age, but to tell you the truth, I keep myself young because I engage with young people and I am with them. I live in a community residence and this helps me to have a direct relationship with the young. But there is an important element of life: prayer. I think a person, even a young person, without prayer and spiritual life, is not capable of loving and meeting others."

"Many say that the more one integrates symbols and gestures of an indigenous culture, the better the inculturation is obtained. This is true, in a certain way. But the more urgent need is the interiorization of what is happening in the liturgy. This is the real inculturation. We continually switch the meanings around. Some liturgists often go just by the exterior things."

"Tradition is not a stagnant lake, but is like a spring, or a river: it is something alive. The Church is a living organism and thus it always needs to validly translation the Catholic tradition into present situations."

"Look carefully around St Peter's and St Mary Major and ask the crowd: they will all answer that they are waiting for a new Francis. Without looking for a photocopy, I am convinced that we will go ahead along Bergoglio's line, I have spoken about it with many cardinals. Interviewer: the opposing factions? Cardinal Kasper: In the general congregations they seem to me to be a small group. The Church cannot afford to backtrack now."

"The Church won't develop by European standards. For centuries we sent missionaries to other continents, now other continents are inspiring us and revitalizing our faith. I think that's a postive development."

"I resigned myself to the will of God because the duty of every Christian is to accept the cross which the Saviour sends. It would be a sin to strive against the will of God. I did not accept the cross because of the cross, but in devotion to the Cross of the Saviour… My pains by themselves are of no avail to save souls, but only when united with the pains of Our Lord. If it were possible, I would willingly accept sufferings in Heaven in order to bring more souls to the Saviour."

"[About the motu proprio Traditionis custodes] It brokes Pope Benedict’s heart."

"You have to differentiate between the papacy as an institution and the person of the incumbent. It certainly was a revolutionary step… And it’s only now that we see the importance and huge opportunities that have been opened up by this step. As I have said before, it was not easy for me personally, but the question is not whether it’s easy but rather that I have to accept and come to terms with this decision. And in this respect also I’m at peace with myself."

"This is not a stupid power game like in the film Conclave. I only hope that the cardinals will not be influenced by reading the headlines. Francis has always been well regarded by the media and so there is a risk that someone will say: We must go on like this. The Pope must be orthodox. The question is not between conservatism and progressivism, but between orthodoxy and heresy. A heretical pope, who changed direction every day depending on what the media said, would be catastrophic."

"To teach contrary to the apostolic faith would automatically deprive the pope of his office. We must all pray and work courageously to spare the Church such an ordeal."

"A chapter in the history of the Church has come to a close. When it comes to his pontificate, opinions vary. There is unanimous appreciation for Francis' commitment to migrants, the poor and overcoming divisions between the centre and the periphery; on the other hand, however, he has been somewhat ambiguous at times, for example when he spoke to Eugenio Scalfari about resurrection. With Pope Benedict XVI, we had perfect theological clarity, but everyone has their own charisma and abilities, and I think Pope Francis had more of these in the social sphere."

"Seeing in 2013 the warm greeting of Gustavo Raffi, Grand Master of the Grand Orient of Italy, I became certain that, more than a welcome to Bergoglio, it was a goodbye for Pope Ratzinger!"

"The Word became Flesh, and we are beings of flesh and blood and soul. We are living in the reality of the material world – also created by God – and therefore we need this corporal visible mediation by the sacraments within the community of the believers."

"The present crisis can only be overcome if, above all, the bishops understand it as a call and an incentive to a new spiritual awakening, drawing on the roots of our Faith. Is it not it astounding that the "conventional" seminars of so-called traditionalist communities, especially in France but not only there, have no shortage of seminarians? So why not adopt this model for success?"

"In reality, "Body and Blood of Christ" do not mean the material components of the man Jesus during His lifetime or in His transfigured corporeality. Rather, body and blood here mean the presence of Christ in the sign of the medium of bread and wine, which [presence] is made communicable in the here and now of sense-bound human perception."

"It must be emphatically emphasized that hundreds of thousands of priests and religious people faithfully and selflessly serve God and men. To put them under general suspicion is just as offensive as unjustified, considering the tiny percentage of abusers. On the other hand, it equally is an excessively narrow view of reality to look only at the Catholic Church."

"Many cardinals today would sympathize with Angelo Scola as Pope."

"In the face of growing confusion about the doctrine of the Faith, many bishops, priests, religious and laypeople of the Catholic Church have requested that I make a public testimony about the truth of revelation. It is the shepherds' very own task to guide those entrusted to them on the path of salvation. This can only succeed if they know this way and follow it themselves."

"Inscription No. XLIV is written in twenty incomplete lines on a white sandstone, broken off at either end, and split in two parts in the middle. It is dated Saṁvat 1241, or A.D. 1184, in the time of Jayachchhandra of Kanauj, whose praises it records for erecting a Vaishṇava temple, from whence this stone was originally brought and appropriated by Aurangzīb in building his masjid known as Tretā-kī-Thākur. The original slab was discovered in the ruins of this Masjid, and is now in the Faizābād Local Museum."

"The oldest building in Jaunpur is the masjid of Ibrahim Naih Barhak in the fort ; it is a long narrow building of the early Bengali type, that is, a simple arcade supported on carved Hindu pillars, with three low domes in the middle."

"The Atala Masjid was the work of Ibrahim Shiih during the early part of his reign. It was built on the site of the Hindu temple of Atala Devi, which is said to have been erected by Jayachchhandra Deva (1175 — 1193), the last Rathor prince of Kanauj. Of all the masjids remaining at Jaunpur, the Atala Masjid is the most ornate and the most beautiful. .... As is proved by nine inscriptions found in the Atala Masjid, Firuz Shah commenced the appropriation of the Ataladevi temple in A.D. 1376 and Ibrahim Shah finished the Atala Masjid in A.D. 1408."

"It is dated Samvat 1241 or A.D. 1184, in the time of Jaychchandra of Kanauj, whose praises it records for erecting a Vaishnava temple, from whence this stone was originally brought and appropriated by Aurangzeb in building his masjid known as Treta-ki-Thakur. The original slab was discovered in the ruins of this Masjid."

"The old temple of Ramachandra at Janmasthanam must have been a very fine one, for many of its columns have been used by the Musalmans in the construction of Babar's masjid. These are of strong, close-grained, dark-coloured or black stone, called by the natives knsnuti, 'touch-stone slate,' and carved with different devices. They are from seven to eight feet long, square at the base, centre and capital, and round or octagonal intermediately"

"It is locally affirmed that at the Musalman conquest there were three important Hindu temples at Ayodhya: these were the Janma-sthanam, the Svargadvaram, and the Treta-ka-Thakur. On the first of these Mir Khan built a Masjid, in A.H. 930 during the reign of Babar, which still bears his name."

"Bābar‘s Masjid at Ayodhyā was built in A.H. 930, or A.D. 1523, by Mīr Khān, on the very spot where the old temple Janmāsthānam of Rāmachandra was standing."

"This stone was originally brought and appropriated by Aurangzeb in building his masjid known as Treta ki (sic) Thakur. ... [It was] rescued from the ruins of Aurangzeb's Masjid, known as Treta-ka-Thakur, and is now in the Faizabad Museum."

"The health of the population (due to COVID-19 outbreaks) takes precedence over economic interest."

"One would not have closed hairdressers and retail shops with the knowledge of today."

"Marx succumbed to error in believing that the number of the industrial proletariat would constantly rise and reach a huge majority; in fact the process of industrialization, from a certain point in time, allowed the new group of ‘stiff collar proletarians’ to increase more, and the process led them, in spite of all their anti-capitalist resentments, to an alliance with the old middle strata and the grand bourgeoisie. Thus it came to the paradox ‘that national fascism is on the one hand a political consequence of this development predicted by Marx, and on the other hand a movement which has as its most effective slogan ‘Down with Marxism’."

"As the classic form of fascism, national socialism also reaches Inside through its deepest roots, though in a disguised and dissimulating fashion, into the realm of the subversive-utopian element of ‘man’."