roman-catholic-bishops

"Insecurity prevails, the internally displaced are still many. I personally ask you, those who know me, to pray. Pray for me, and pray for peace. As a church, we can only humanely help those forced to move from one place to another. The security issue is in the hands of the government and international partners."

"We want to work on evangelization and human development in a difficult are of our country. We are counting on support from the Church in Ghana and the aid from our sister Churches in other countries. However, we also hope to become self-reliant. It is a long-term project."

"It is in cases of litigation that Rome is slow, and that is owing to deep solicitude lest justice should suffer a defeat."

"Security is still precarious. The first thing we really need to do is ensure that people can return safely to resume their lives with confidence. But I think we still need time. If people return, we will also consider the possibility that missionaries will return. But for us, the thermometer will be to understand the degree of real security."

"The formation of men, in addition to the theological and moral part, includes a so-called "civil" part (for example on human and civic rights), a practical part on how, for example, to impart Christian teachings to those who ask to join the Catholic Church. Finally, a part dedicated to human development, focused on cultivation and breeding. It is no coincidence that the symbol of the school is an open Bible with a machete next to it, a work tool for harvesting the fruits of the earth. In short, we refer to the Ora et Labora rule."

"I want to keep on working for the unity of my country. I want to spend my life for lasting peace, peace which has been robbed by some. There are many, many like me, of all religions, who have not given up hope. I believe that the present state of the country is only a passing phase. Freedom is God's gift. Peace is God's gift. God's gifts are meant for His children. Independence is not a once-and-for-all achievement, but it is forged daily, achieved daily."

"His bright spirits and kindly genial ways, the outward expression of a soul which combined with its deep sense of religion a noble and generous disposition, won not only from his personal friends, but from all with whom he came in contact, an admiration and kindly feeling such as only a few have the power to excite."

"Emigration should be a free decision. People must be able to choose whether they want to leave or stay, because the country belongs to everyone. So I should be free to decide whether I go to another country or stay in my country."

"The Church in Togo is maturing slowly but surely. Our priority is the Christian, human and spiritual formation of the faithful. All the members of the Church, clergy, religious and laity need adequate formation if they are to meet the needs of the people. Formation also includes inculturation of the faith so that our faithful do not feel they are strangers in their own Church."

"It is time to place an end to the iniquity and as human persons who preach love and peace, we lift our voices in favor of life and no more abortion. The effort that we all make will be rewarded in Heaven and our names will be written in the Book of Life."

"He was a moral, religious man, of much force of character, to whom half measures and shiftiness were foreign."

"In our region there are so many armed groups that it is difficult to understand who commits the action. Here in North Kivu we live in total chaos. The situation in my diocese of Goma, like that of Butembo-Beni, is incredible. We are completely abandoned by everyone; we live only thanks to Providence. I ask the faithful of the universal Church to pray for our region so that they can rediscover peace."

"The people have assimilated the principles of democracy and taken part in a peaceful and orderly election on 31 July. It is the political leaders who fail to come to any agreement and so increase tension. The people of Congo hope that from these elections will emerge a leadership able to lead the country to peace and development."

"One can live there and feel quite at home because one can lose his heart to any country, and it is a commonplace that "home is where the heart is.""

"The Neapolitan is outside history; or rather, he has been so deeply involved in it and so mistreated, mocked, and ridiculed that he has ended up stepping out of time, creating his own eternal environment dominated, of course, by Saint Januarius and the Kabbalah. What else could he do with his problems unresolved and postponed indefinitely?"

"With the kings, their heirs, relatives, in-laws, and friends discarded, the Neapolitans were left with their patron saint, in the very sense of a father from whom they could hope not for miracles, but for bread in the wild. From this legitimate desire to "a barbaric cult of blood." There is a big difference. San Gennaro, largely manipulated by the clergy to keep the unwary in check, became a weapon of blackmail in their hands in the unyielding hope of taming those who had and could."

"It has been said that Saint Januarius is the soul of Naples. One could say even more. Saint Januarius is the sentiment of a people who, despite the defeats, disappointments, and bitterness suffered throughout their long and painful history, still find the strength to hope, to fight, and to live."

"That blessed Blood remains frozen and hard all year round, as if it were stone, and then, on the first Saturday of May, it is brought in procession to collide with the Head, whereupon it liquefies and turns red, so that it seems to have just flowed from a vein, and it is considered a bad omen in Naples every time this miraculous effect does not occur, as it has been observed that some kind of misfortune always befalls the city, as if that saint took the city of Naples under his protection and, foreseeing its misfortunes, signaled them in this way."

"I know that the religious sentiment of our people is often, and wrongly, labeled as colorful folklore, in which legend and magic, sacred and profane, merge in our millennial history, which, in the eyes of cold secularism, appears incapable of distinguishing superstition from faith. It is true that much superstition still creeps into the authentic Christian message, but I believe that superstition should not be confused with popular piety. This people, who, since the first liquefaction of blood, have taken St. Januarius as the protector of their city, know how to grasp, in the manifestation of the miracle, the profound meaning of faith: the hope of resurrection. It is an inexpressible mystery which, in order to be conceived, requires symbols capable of representing the link between pain and redemption. The blood that has miraculously come back to life is a sign that refers to the immortality of the soul, to life beyond death, to the resurrection of the flesh."

"At the top of all the saints in Naples is he, Saint Januarius of the blood. If Naples is a “city of blood,” an “ir haddammìm” as we read in the sacred stories about Nineveh and Jerusalem, it is thanks to him. [...] He, Saint Gennaro of the blood, known in the dialect as simply “sangennà,” is the fertility of the sacred in the middle of the Gulf of Naples, the menstruation of the sky that must flow and give power to women, to the soil, to the sea, to the red sauce of tomatoes and fish that makes up the soup of our own blood."

"The miracle of San Gennaro has always been and will continue to be for a long time to come a major event for the great family of the Neapolitan people. All the governments that have ruled over that land, where it is easier to tyrannize men than to emancipate them, know this."

"He was untiring in his efforts to conserve the moral life within his diocese, especially among the clergy and the religious orders."

"Let us not leave the polling stations before the results are posted at the polling station and all relevant documents are officially signed. Let us give a mandate to new leaders who have shown a sense of the common good, love for their country and generosity in their social projects."

"Separated from the faithful and having no longer to travel constantly from one church to another, the Apostle was able to embrace in one sweeping glance all the Christians scattered throughout the world. While he resided in the center of the immense Roman Empire which, in its unity, comprised the world, it was the one universal Church of Christ, the fulfilment of the mysterious decrees revealed to him, the Church in which it had been his privilege to bring together Jews and pagans, that presented itself to him for contemplation."

"The power of the State is maintained to be of God, either immediately, or mediately through the will of the people; and the civil government exists side by side with the ecclesiastical government. Each is complete in its own sphere."

"Great iniquities still exist in the world. Slavery has been holding her ground for the last eighty years in the United States, and was a stain upon the American Republic long before becoming the instrument of her ruin, or at least of a scandalous dissolution. In Sweden, civil liberty of conscience is still proscribed by laws of another age, and is only bought by exile or loss of property. Perfidy and violence are going hand in hand to destroy the nationality of Poland, and crush in her the last struggles of Catholic faith by the united force of schism and despotism. In fine, there is in the East of Europe an anti-Christian empire crumbling away visibly under the weight of its own corruption; whose protestations do not hinder indignant Europe from requiring an account of the thousands of victims butchered by Moslem fanaticism almost under our eyes, which empire is, nevertheless, protected by the mutual jealousy and distrust of western nations. All these facts are so many outrages upon justice, and so many insolent triumphs of might over right."

"Fluery had the qualities of a great minister. He was the first to foresee that France would not always be at enmity with the Hapsburghs."

"The church in Asia today is facing a very big challenge. While there is a growing number of young people who are giving their time, talents and some even their treasure to the mission of the Church in Asia, this same Church is being pushed to the sidelines of people's lives. And there are a variety of factors that influence this - political, economic, religious, even cultural."

"In any case, we are more than willing to cooperate in education, because it is a fundamental sector in the development of any nation, on the other hand, we want to preserve the wonderful legacy left by the missionaries, who have done an excellent job through schools."

"Spiritually we are weak and poor, we must repent and pray a lot."

"Give me a window to travel and see our people who are in the bush. I need to visit them, there are so many of them, their children have grown, and they have not been taught Catechism, they are not baptized, they are not confirmed and they want Sacraments of Baptism and Confirmation. Give me the chance to go and see them. I go there for faith."

"The people have the right to democratically withdraw their trust in the authorities when the latter fail to fulfil their sovereign duties."

"We did not understand that the blood of so many victims which impregnates the Congolese soil is a seed that will one day bear fruit for a better Congo. We must continue the struggle for the liberation of our country, until the final victory."

"We came to recognise him as a gentle, caring and warm-hearted pastor. Through his gentleness, caring and warmth, he made an immediate impact on everyone who was privileged to make his acquaintance."

"We must make sure that our country does not become one of those nations where the murder of candidates before elections is considered normal. Given the sacredness of life, the death of even one candidate during an election must be considered one too many."

"The agreement between local elites and multinational companies is detrimental to the people, having as its sole objective the exploitation of natural and human resources. We try to contribute to the organization of local communities: we need a common effort, an educational path."

"He has strenuously and successfully carried on the great works of education and religion begun by his predecessor, and, like him, has been a model to his clergy in his unwearying and self-sacrificing toil."

"We should not just depend on prayers but must also work hard to respond to the economic hardships the Country is facing. For prayer to yield results, it has to go with action. No matter how many times Zambians will cry and shout to God for help to improve the Country's economy, their prayers will yield nothing in the absence of hard work."

"His personality won friends for the Church on all sides, whilst his vigorous defence of Catholic doctrine, as well as his clean-cut, outspoken advocacy of American rights and duties, gave to the Church in southern California a great onward movement."

"The first challenge is that the peoples take possession of the Church, they must feel part of it, they must feel subjects of evangelization and not just an object. Thus, by discovering the Good News, they become true agents of transformation of reality. To succeed in this objective it is necessary that, as a Church, we accompany cultures through the promotion of formation and cultural development."

"Above all he was noted for his Christian charity and his unbounded liberality. All the money he could raise he bestowed upon the poor, while he himself led a life of simplicity and poverty. He was greatly respected both in Italy and elsewhere by the dignitaries of both Church and State."

"The Family is an image of the Holy Trinity that signifies the love of God for humanity. As a visible sign of this love, the family becomes the venue per excellence for the transmission of life, faith and training in values and virtues."

"I am here to give comfort and encourage the population that suffers. The local Church is providing every possible humanitarian aid for the displaced persons."

"Under his careful and prudent administration the diocese has prospered and acquired order and solidity."

"As with the individual, so with the nation dost Thou deal most mercifully. With the breath of Thy love Thou hast called it into existence. Thou didst bless it with wise and prudent founders. Thou hast implanted in the breasts of its citizens a sense of right, a love of justice. Thou hast watched over its beginnings. Thou hast brought it, in a brief space of time, to a height of unparalleled prosperity. Thou hast, when its existence was endangered, either by attacks from without or by dissensions within, filled the hearts of its faithful children with love and devotion, and Thou hast raised from among them valiant men to defend its interests. Thou hast led them to victory, and when Thou didst make them victorious, Thou didst, too, inspire them with mercy and compassion for the vanquished. For all this, Oh Heavenly Father, we return loving thanks."

"Priests must be firm in faith and charity. They are not just names, but are in fact priests, who show their love for the Lord in service to the faithful. Moreover, in a world full of temptations of consumerism and secularism, priests must face the challenges with ongoing spiritual formation."

"The Pope has asked us to be precious stones in the edifice of the Catholic Church in Russia. Our local Church is a small edifice, we are not many, but we too can be the precious stones that build the universal Church."

"Only by successful war can we obtain peace."

"There is a great need among Catholics to be united despite the distances and at the same time to care for others, for example the poor, regardless of what background they come from."

"The Christian's weakness in front of his persecutors is not a disadvantage, but paradoxically, the way in which he is able to endure moments of crisis."