Diplomats Of The Holy See

"We, who are baptised, must ask ourselves what we should do to make Christ present in Zambia. There is need to leave everything, our preferences and follow Jesus. To preach the good news of Jesus, to preach the beauty of our Catholic faith with courage and firmness and more especially with our lives."

"The Church wasn't meant to separate people, but to unite those who are separated. And if there are differences as a result of different sensibilities, we should always be open to listen, to dialogue, without prejudice."

"Flowers are a gift of the Creator and their beauty speaks a language all their own. To offer a flower is a sign of sharing and caring between the giver and the receiver."

"After Sri Lanka, Africa and Japan, it's a different world in the same world. Each area has its own particular challenge."

"The years of my diplomatic service have taken me to work in different countries with different sensitivities in Church-State relations. In all of them, however, I seemed to perceive a common denominator: the State looks at the Church with attention and interest. Why is this so? Perhaps because the Church has always shown itself to be more inclined to what unites than to what divides."

"As Bishops we reach out to touch the hearts of the abandoned, marginalized, ignored and excluded, in an attempt to uplift these people and restore their dignity and legitimate place in society. Go in search of the lost, the last and the marginalized. The courage of those who approach Jesus in the Gospel is a great lesson for everyone. We too must learn to go to him, to seek his merciful face. Jesus felt pity and reached out to help."

"God will use each one of you to build His house thanks to the precious talents received from Him. Though we are limited in some aspects of human nature, God can still use us to accomplish His plans."

"Jesus Christ made Peter the leader of the other Apostles and appointed him as the foundation and source of unity of faith and community in the Church. Metropolitan Archbishops must be vigilant to maintain unity and communion with the successor of Peter, the Vicar of Christ and the visible head of the Church, namely the Holy Father."

"The sword of St. Michael the Archangel must remember the weapons with which the Christian must always struggle: prayer, unity and love."

"The solution to problems is not in violence, nor in confrontation, but above all in dialogue, harmony, and unity among the Bolivian people."

"Commemoration ceremonies are definitely not to seek revenge but to seek justice for the victims and pray."

"Religious leaders should lead by example and should be unifiers and not agents of division."

"Perhaps our brother Léon will tell us, and will tell his people, his people of Argentina, of Salvador, in many places where he went: "Now I commit you to God.""

"Romero has shown us the path a Christian must follow, be what he believes, what he lives, what he professes."

"The sad problem of Africa is that it abounds with many resources and yet is seen as the poorest continent with women and children seen as the most vulnerable in society."

"I didn't miss much because I was having wonderful new experiences. I didn’t get home much because we went by boat back then. I found that I could fit in very well wherever I was."

"If the teaching of the Magisterium of the Church is seen simply as the laying down of laws, and not as the logical and often inevitable consequence of our faith, those who find themselves in these difficult pastoral situations will naturally see the Church as uncaring."

"Help the Pope to ensure that the Gospel of Jesus reaches all people, especially those who have never heard it. "Mission" begins at home."

"Communism fought against religious faith and that to which religious faith is tied: the sacredness of all human life, the family, the spiritual dimension of the human person, and the call to eternal life."

"Are we changing for good, for the real well-being, or are we impoverishing our comprehension of the human being, our respect for the human being, therefore also our respect for society, respect for our history? Those questions in this moment call, among other things, my attention in this great country which is Canada."

"I have great feelings about the people of this country who are extraordinary. It's a people who know how to express feelings of true friendship, of affection and this is engraved in my heart."

"I can honestly say, not with any reference to myself at all, that the Holy See always had a tremendous respect for the archdiocese of Philadelphia and in particular for the seminary. The fact that the Holy See was constantly asking the archdiocese for priests to serve in the Vatican in our diplomatic service indicated the respect that the Holy Father and the Vatican the Holy See had for Philadelphia."

"By the prayers of the Church, your journey – at this moment painful for us – will finish at the gates of the heavenly home where the merciful father already awaits you."

"I will bring with me wonderful memories of the Filipino people who, in spite of their many hardships and trials, remain resilient supported by resolute faith in God. They do not ask God to provide only for their materials needs but rather to abandon themselves to Him as their Father. They believe that God is greater than all their needs."

"the Church-Family of God is Catholic, ie universal; therefore it knows no regional or provincial borders. We are all members of the same and only Church, and no Catholic is a foreigner in another Diocese. Imagine for a moment, if the first Missionaries and Bishops of Burkina Faso had never come from outside, in this case from France, there would be no Catholic Church now in Burkina Faso. Thus, at the recent Synod for Africa, the Synod Fathers asked that the faithful and priests welcome, in a spirit of faith, the Bishop that the Holy Father sends them as their Pastor of the Diocese."

"I saw destruction everywhere but people were ready to start again with their faith."

"There is hope as long as there is this natural creativity and resilience of the Lebanese people. Hope never dies."

"The Catholic Church is committed to work tirelessly for the common good and to help each believer to be an "adal azamat". All social projects the Catholic Church is undertaking throughout the country contribute to building a better present and future for the needy."

"My dear brother Priests, be united like the ropes of the bark of Peter, the ropes to which the anchor is hooked, protecting the bark from the winds and the storms. Be united like the rope that lifts up the sails to catch the wind, making it sail and bringing the bark to port. Be like the ropes of strong, expansive nets that bring in the abundant catch of fish."

"Inter-religious dialogue is necessary to promote a culture of peace and to promote the essential values of the Council of Europe that are often in line with the Catholic Churchs action and teaching, such as peace, education, justice, and reconciliation."

"As Christians, especially parents, we must encourage young people to go to church and must continue to share gifts, which is a special asset, faith."

"I extend deep gratitude to everyone in Gibraltar, a community distinguished by tolerance, warmth and unique hospitality."

"He's a fascinating guy. He knows all the languages, he studied at the Accademia, which is the training ground for Vatican diplomats, and now finds himself accompanying the pope on his journeys. He's a very charming fellow."

"He is a good man and will not reveal any of the Jesuit secrets we will talk about here."

"We are all called to be holy right where we are, amid everyday realities, despite our weaknesses and the difficulties we may face. By living in this way we can change the world."

"The Holy See has always just sent me where they needed me, it's been a very beautiful experience. It hasn't always been easy, being so far from home and family, but I will miss it. At the same time, direct pastoral ministry has always been my first love. Human beings are very similar, but we're not all the same. Throughout my ministry, I've been able to see the beauty of all these different cultures, and the beauty of the Church in all these different places. It's been a very enriching experience."

"I find that my life is a circle -- I keep coming back to a point where I was before, but in a different way. That's the way God has worked with me, I guess."

"Prepare the population to receive a message of a universal pastor, a pastor of the church, he's not a politician but he's a man of God."

"We need to become more aware of the intrinsic treasure in the magisterium of the Church, which throughout the centuries has been enriched and has given life to our community. And today the Pope, together with the bishops, is trying to make it even more vibrant for society today. To be ready to listen, that to me is very important. Then we need to respond in such a way that our language can be understood by the people."

"God has given to all of us many gifts. What He gives them we have to put in practice."

"An administrator has to be trustworthy, so the administrator is not the master, the administrator is not a slave who cannot decide anything, the administrator is somebody who has responsibility under somebody who stay over him and we know over us is Jesus Christ, so I invite you in your different responsibilities in the church to remember that we are administrators, not the masters."

"Newness, if it comes from God, brings always with it a going beyond of what already exists. Tradition, if it is authentic, receives and gives a solid base to new advances"

"Our world is questioning our position and that is where we must be strong in belief, following the teaching of the church. Facing the difficult reality, the temptation will be, of course, to take the easy way."

"Today the Catholic Church in Turkey is called to move from an attitude of a Church with presence to a Church of witness: a Church which reflects on the meaning of its presence in Turkey."

"The church will continue to support the constitutional rights of the people of this region to protest against anything that threatens their lives and the local ecosystem."

"As Apostolic Nuncio I firmly believe that interfaith dialogue is the means to promote good relations among people of different faiths who can discover the beauty of other peoples' faith."

"My experience is that there is very little hostility towards the Holy See as an entity, but rather they do see a value in it. We work to make a contribution that is obviously grounded in our faith but also in the experience and history of our Church."

"Now is the time to go out into the sea of life and bring people aboard the boat of the Church, revealing to them the meaning of human dignity and elevating them to the practice of the virtues of the Gospel. May the blessed handmaid of the Lord and queen of the apostles intercede for me so that every day I may strengthen my faith in Jesus Christ and, following the example of my dear parents and brothers and sisters, find consolation in the voice of the Lord who repeats without tiring: Fear not, I have called you by name."

"Being mutally open to one another allows us to understand and appreciate one another, because authentic love, inspired by God, cannot fail to generate in the hearts of all of us the desire for mutual help, despite the differences that can characterize us."

"The death of our dear brother in Christ certainly saddens us. But it is also an encouragement for all of us to continue with humility and simplicity in faithful service to the Gospel, always being prepared for the Lord's call."