Catholics From Italy

"I do not see anything bad here. It is legitimate in terms of doctrine to turn to the pope and express an opinion – and it is also just that he would respond."

"Les usuriers juifs dépassent toute mesure: ils égorgent les pauvres et s'engraissent de leur substance, et moi qui vis d'aumônes, qui me nourris du pain des pauvres, je serais comme un chien muet devant la charité outragée! Les chiens aboient pour la défense de ceux qui les nourrissent, et moi que les pauvres nourrissent, je verrais ravir ce qui leur appartient et je me tairais!"

"[Edvige] lived an ordinary life, from the outside the same as that of so many laypeople, but extraordinary in terms of her intimacy with God, her union with Him, to the point of identifying with Jesus in a perfect and transforming union with Him, the spouse of souls. Friend of the poor and the marginalized, she had words of consolation for everyone … If we ask what are the strong points of the Christian life of this sister of ours, and which lead her to be an example of welcoming prayerfulness and humble and joyful abnegation, we would say that there are essentially two: constant contemplation of the Crucified Lord and the adoration of the Eucharist."

"[Holy Cross,] you resolve every bitterness."

"One must always infuse comfort and hope."

"Since this office has also been entrusted to me, each element takes on a deeper meaning."

"Bishops and priests should bring the spiritual dimension to political and social life. The poor will be exploited and used as a pretext for partisan or other agendas."

"An administrator is neither a master nor a slave who cannot decide anything, but one who is given a responsibility by the Master."

"Even today God may continue to call people to Himself, so that others may discover the mercy and the forgiveness of God, so that others may know that they have a Father who is in heaven. Without our testimony, the Gospel could not continue to manifest that God loves man. In fact, this is our message, the message of which we are heralds: God loves man."

"The Shroud is a reality that concerns everyone. The Shroud image that Turin has preserved for almost five centuries testifies to pain and death, but also to resurrection and eternal life."

"The importance of proclaiming the kerygma of faith must never be subordinated to any political situation, whether it concerns the Church itself, the general situation or conflict with other Churches. This is obvious and everyone understands it, but it is difficult to put into practice. It is often difficult for Christians in a situation of war not to refer to circumstances, even those of a political nature. And perhaps it is not even right, but this is not what being Christian is all about. People are not saved by a news bulletin instead of a homily because they already see tragedies on television. People need hope, and the only hope is that Christ died and rose again. This is difficult to understand when priests are called to fight at the front, leaving parish communities vacant. Who can give these people widespread hope for survival if not the liturgy, the sacraments, prayer, the priest who comforts and helps: in short, the love of God? How can one think that it is more useful to fight than to manage the morale of the people? But to do so, one must believe in God. And when faith is a kind of veneer, then choices are made which, convinced that they are for the good of the people, call into question the very survival of the people themselves. Instrumentalisation always becomes a strong temptation for those in power to have the Church on their side and for the Church to take advantage. And when you ask to have the Church on your side, it means that you feel fragile."

"(About Syria) It is a destroyed country. Twelve years of war, and above all the results of certain aspects of the sanctions, have made the people miserable. I was in Syria 25 years ago, I don't recognise it, it's the third world. Salaries are almost non-existent, there is no work, there is huge emigration, cities are destroyed by bombing; I can't see the difference between bombing and the fall caused by the earthquake. People are worn out, they have no hope. A bit of Eastern fatalism helps, where they say, ‘It's okay, it happened, let's hope for God’: Muslims say it, Christians say it with the same phrase in Arabic. The current situation of war and sanctions makes it very difficult to help them: it takes a long time to get visas, sending money is impossible, and then there are areas that are under different controls. And there are some groups that don't let anything through, except to those they decide. And I must say that many European countries also go through dissident groups on the ground because they have a more similar political position, but they do not check where this money goes and to whom. If it were not for some Franciscans who, with mental gymnastics and an infinite imagination that only Easterners have, manage to find more or less legal alternative channels, people would have nothing. I went there first and foremost to bring the Holy Father's blessing, closeness and affection, but also to provide practical help and to tell the organisations what they should not do when sending aid."

"Journalist: So, not enough is known about the artistic and cultural heritage of the Eastern Churches? Cardinal Gugerotti: No, it is not known. Decades ago, there was a document from the then Congregation for Catholic Education, which prescribed that every Latin seminary should include teaching on the Eastern Churches. It is probably one of the most disregarded documents among the many disregarded documents produced by the Holy See. Journalist: Why do you think that is? Cardinal Gugerotti: Because there was a period when the humanities were considered more important for the integration of the seminary curriculum than the historical or philological-artistic aspects. So it became a mammoth programme, covering everything, but these fundamental aspects for understanding Christianity were left out. This is very serious to me because it means a partial knowledge of one's own identity. It also potentially means a source of controversy between one person and another or, conversely, the premise of ecstatic adoration of the other: both attitudes that have no foundation and are not at all useful."

"The Eastern world observes Lent very strictly. One of the things that Easterners are most passionate about is knowing how much you fast. It may be a naive question, but generally it stems from the perception that fasting is a sign of how seriously you take God and how much you understand that God is the only essential thing. Therefore, you must distance yourself from all the little idols that systematically tend to replace Him. This is what fasting is really about: abstaining from what risks becoming the centre of the day, taking the place of God. Prayer and fasting, which increase during Lent, are a reaffirmation for Easterners that life belongs to God, that space belongs to God."

"Cardinal Gugerotti: I get the impression that very often the West, with all its sophistication, is accustomed to talking as if we were a group of old ladies playing bridge on an island surrounded by caimans. Journalist: You mean, from a position that is a little too "comfortable"? Cardinal Gugerotti: Yes, we are used to not having wars that directly involve us, but we could have them the day after tomorrow, and in any case they are already within our borders. All the conditions are there. The Pope often speaks of a war in pieces, and now the pieces are in danger of coming together very easily."

"What emerges from this brief but well-documented summary is that Rome has always been home to a significant number of Easterners and Eastern communities. This applies not only to the Empire but also to the Church. The Roman Church was heavily populated by Eastern communities that preserved their distinctiveness for a long time. Readers may be surprised to learn that eleven popes were Greek and almost ten were Syriac. This means that their presence was not marginal. Rome, caput mundi, was also a city in which Easterners identified themselves as integrated into its fabric, and not simply as small communities of emigrants."

"(About the Gaza war and Israelian raids) We have returned to the law of the jungle, well represented by very modern weapons, but it is still the law of the club. We hoped that, especially with Humanism, the Renaissance and the great cultures of antiquity, it had been overcome, but we realise that this is not the case for the moment. [...] The feeling is that hatred has grown exponentially in recent times. The delicate problem is that there is no international body capable of mediating. There are individual bodies that decide to be the masters of the world. This is another issue. This is not the spirit in which the United Nations or other organisations were created, nor, to tell the truth, the European Union. There is a strong institutional weakness in international organisations."

"The Church discovers its unity in the name of Francis."

"Today, ecumenism in Ukraine is still a dream."

"As Church, we are called to discern God's voice and read history not just with human criteria but especially in the light of God's word and there we can discover where the Lord wants to lead us, as a Church, as a society, as a single faithful."

"I’m increasingly convinced that we have in our hands an effective answer to come out of the crisis, even if at times we are not always aware of it: this answer is a University that functions well, namely, a University that is an inexhaustible place of dialogue between faith and reason, a fervent forge of formation of formators."

"I offer the pain I'm going through so that the Lord, our God, may purify the church of Rumbek from all errors and things like these may happen no more; no room for violence, division, (and) selfish desires that come from the devil."

"For John Paul II everything begins with God's "yes" to man, everything arises from God's plan of "infinite love." God's "yes" to man means "yes" to his dignity, to his authentic needs. It means 'yes' to the world ... and to everything that is beautiful, good and just in life."

"There is a need for something else that only the priest, as a man of God, can give. Ultimately, it is God that man lacks."

"(About the opening of the holy door) This is a great opportunity that God is offering us: let us all welcome it. A few days ago, I was in Loreto with Don Oreste Benzi and three elderly priests who were celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of their ministry. One of them said: 'The year 2000 is coming: what do you want to change? Don q:it:Oreste Benzi looked at us and replied: “There are five of us: if we five change, a lot will change”. So, we must take these words as an example: each of us can do something, each of us can give a little light, because each of us is an open window through which God's light can pass."

"(About In vitro fertilisation) Let us look at how it is written, how the architecture of life is conceived. Looking at birth, at the conception of human life, we see that the human cell is composed of 23 chromosomes, which come from the father's genetic heritage, and 23 chromosomes, which come from the mother's genetic heritage, forming the human cell, which has 46 chromosomes. And all this composition takes place in the act of love that unites the father and mother, the future father and the future mother. This is written in the book of life; this is certainly the architecture of life, as conceived by the one who gave life. And even if someone wanted to say that there is no one who gave life, they must nevertheless admit that this is the architecture. So, faced with this reality, I ask myself: do we want to disrupt this plan? Do we want to disrupt this architecture? Does man have the right to disrupt this architecture? Is it possible that he can shatter this architecture to make life a laboratory product? Such a leap jeopardises the whole meaning of conception and, consequently – because an initial error has subsequent repercussions – the whole meaning of the human journey through life. We say: be careful! A mistake made at the beginning will ultimately have tragic consequences. I would add that today many people, even non-believers, are rediscovering ecology. That is excellent. What is ecology? It is the recognition that in nature – we say in creation – there are laws. And if man violates these laws, there is a repercussion, almost a rebellion of nature, because it has laws within itself. So are there no laws, no clear signs at the most important moment of human life, which is the conception of human life? And will breaking those laws, violating those laws, not have dramatic repercussions on the very life of the unborn child?"

"The gift of counsel prevents a perpetually adolescent life: it is a gift that makes us adults."

"True theologians are saints: a recent and admirable example is Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, who reached a point of synthesis of all revealed truth and was proclaimed Doctor of the Church."

"Those who love the truth understand the truth better, understand it sooner, understand it more."

"Holy priests move history and set it on the right path."

"There is a crisis of vocations, but first there is a crisis of life. Today, people no longer have children."

"There is no cause-and-effect relationship between celibacy and paedophilia. Paedophilia is a perversion, a disease, a fragility that is also found in married people."

"The priest lives in constant spiritual tension, but the scenario in which he lives is anything but exhilarating. If he is unable to defend himself, he stumbles in the mud."

"Pain undoubtedly frightens everyone. But when it is enlightened by faith it becomes a way to cut back selfishness, banalities and frivolities. What’s more, we Christians live pain in communion with the Crucified Jesus: clinging to Him, we fill our pain with love and transform it into a force that challenges and overcomes the selfishness that is still present in the world."

"When someone is moved by apostolic zeal, he always moves forward, with a very open spirit, with the desire of always doing good. The Lord then does the rest."

"You lifted me but I must lift you, the Christian communities. Living and sharing our faith through different experiences is a shared responsibility and I enjoyed my share of experiences with faith. Thank God for all that happened."

"Be prophetic in a deteriorating social political situation. Christians are looking for direction and leadership."

"If this presence, however slight, is removed from the Middle East, then it will be very difficult to recover. Our mere presence here is almost a form of silent announcement: you can make the gospels known outside the church without preaching it in words. There are no illusions here, but we are hopeful”"

"The Japanese by nature struggle to express their feelings, even with the idea of not loading their problems on others. So, in this cultural context, a verbal message and effective closeness and solidarity on behalf of those who do not criticize, but only encourage and pray, has a great value."

"In Japan, there is in reality a great need for religious values, there are some faithful who practice two different religions. But the Church is not able to satisfy this thirst for religion because its strategy is mistaken: the Church must not limit itself to teaching Catholic doctrine, faith, and traditions, but must find a way to connect these with the culture and everyday problems of the Japanese, avoiding the fracture between the teaching of doctrine and everyday life in Japan. Obviously, this is an extremely difficult task."

"One of the greatest problems in present-day Eucharistic celebration is the temptation to abandon the traditional explanations without proposing appropriate substitutions. It was easy to demolish the past, but explanations have not been suggested that might last longer. The solution of course is not to continue with the guidelines of the past, and beyond renewing exterior forms, we must add new vital sap. The form can change or remain the same, what is important is to have a new justification, with greater vigor and support."

"When a person loves another very much, she greatly wished to meet that person. Why then should I be afraid of death? Death brings us to God."

"Seeing the sun, the moon and the stars, I said to myself: Who could be the Master of these beautiful things? And I felt a great desire to see him, to know Him and to pay Him homage..."

"I pity them! No doubt they were unaware of the anguish they caused me. They were the masters and I was the slave. Just as it is natural for us to do good, so it is natural for them to behave as they did behave to me. They did so out of habit, not out of wickedness."

"If I were to meet those men who abducted me, or even those who tortured me, I would kneel and kiss their hands, for it that hadn’t happened, I would not be a Christian and a religious today."

"Be good, love the Lord, pray for those who do not know Him. What a great grace it is to know God!"

"I believe being a bishop in Mongolia is very similar to the episcopal ministry of the early Church, the Church is a very small reality, it is a minority but there is this group of Mongolian faithful who have chosen, with great courage and also a sense of responsibility, to follow the Lord and become part of the Catholic Church."

"Like Saint Dominic Savio, be missionaries of good example, good words, good action at home, with neighbours and colleagues at work. At every age we can and we must bear witness to Christ! Commitment to bear witness is permanent and daily."

"First I will confess very often and I will receive Communion whenever the confessor gives me permission. Second: I wish to sanctify feastdays. Third: my friends will be Jesus and Mary. Fourth: death but not sins."

"A bishop cannot lead his flock without the collaboration of his priests, the religious and the faithful. He would not be a good shepherd. Today you are all with me, though not as numerous as we wished. But I know from different parts of the diocese and the world, many faithful and pilgrims of our and other diocese, are close to us in prayer, and it is in this spirit that we find ourselves as Church – the Mother Church of Jerusalem."