Catholics From Brazil

"Diversity obligates to us a Christian identity well accented and deep, because the more I feel secure in my faith, the more I am capable of having that interior liberty in my relationship with whatever person. When I feel weak in faith, I am afraid of the other beliefs, other religions, they may detour my own security. The difference of religion should invite us to be more mature in faith!"

"The mission is of God, it is not ours. We are simply the instruments of God. Within the Church, one of the characteristics of the missionary, and especially of the religious – for I myself am also a religious – is itinerancy. We are never fixed in one place, but are transferred wherever the Church needs us, wherever God sends us, which is why we must always be ready to dismantle our tent and set it up again elsewhere."

"The Extraordinary Form speaks, literally (because it is in Latin), and figuratively, a different language; and I think some people who need to can come back to faith through it."

"I defend celibacy for those who feel the priestly calling. But I also say: We need new collaborators in our communities. The ordination of married men meets this need, so I'm in favor. It's a process that must advance for the maturity of our church, not just in the Amazon, but who knows, maybe in other parts of the church, in our continent, and the whole world."

"The Church is a family of families and, therefore, strengthening a Diocese must involve strengthening the families within that Diocese. The family is not just the building block of society but also of the Church."

"I came here to be who I am, to do the work the way I know how to do, and that's the way I've been doing it."

"It is up to us Christians to announce that man needs God to have meaning for his life and for eternal life, without the illumination that comes from the cross of Christ, we would not be able to resolve the inner issues of our hearts."

"We must be pastors near the people. Support with love and patience the steps taken by God in his people."

"It’s important for us to think both about living healthy lives and promoting fraternity. Peace and sports can go together because sports teach us to be united. In his message to the world before the World Cup, Pope Francis said nobody should be alone in sports or in life. On a bigger scale, for our world to be a better place, countries also need to be united."

"Every Brazilian needs to see the many riches that exist in our differences. It is essential to recognize, above all, that each person is similar, a brother, a sister. When the dignity of human life is recognized, that all are sons and daughters of God, fidelity to the ethical principles that guarantee conviviality is strengthened."

"The church does not encourage clashes but harmony, based on a principle that must guide the world going forward, as there is no other possible way. This principle is that of solidarity."

"We Christians believe in a sensitive God: He hears the groaning of the oppressed and listens to the widow’s plea; He suffers with and for humanity, we want to believe that consecrated life, with its many charisms, is the very expression of this sensitivity."

"I have received Holy Communion every day of my life since I was 17 (he is 84 now). I remember missing Communion only twice: once in Bolivia because of a curfew, and once in Washington, D.C., due to a snowstorm."

"Successful intervention by the ecclesiastical hierarchy in the social and economic sphere should start with a denunciation of the two vices at the origin of all modern disorders and revolutions: pride and sensuality. These vices feed the two seemingly opposed errors of our time: collectivist utopianism and individualist liberalism. On the one hand they generate the anarchic-egalitarian dream of a society without government, classes or laws; and, on the other, they are the root of modern liberalism, which rejects all references to an objective truth, absolute values, a higher law, and thus leads to the “dictatorship of relativism” so timely denounced by then Cardinal Ratzinger. Thus, in its very essence, the anthropological crisis humanity is going through results not only from a violation of man’s fundamental rights but from a denial of God’s primacy in the organization of human society. All the rest is a mere consequence."

"As a descendant of Saint Louis, I was profoundly moved to hear that Catholics frequently gather at his monument in Forest Park, Saint Louis, to pray the rosary and defend this symbolic and historical landmark. By remembering him with a statue, we do more than honor his memory. We recognize humbly that, through God’s mercy, good and holy leaders can exist again. Saint Louis challenges us to act with wisdom and courage. Let us keep the statue, lest we lose the highest of standards — those of Christian civilization — and tumble into chaos and anarchy."

"In early half a century ago a little boy was walking with his father and mother in a park of a city in Southern France. Toward them came a distinguished-looking elderly couple—Dom Pedro II and his Empress. That occasion was my first introduction to Brazil. In the years that have passed since that day—years measured by the splendid history of the Republic of Brazil—I have had the pleasure of meeting many of your statesmen and of becoming increasingly familiar with the problems which mutually affect our two Nations."

"Politics is to me the harsh fulfilment of duty."

"I swore to the Constitution, but even if I had not sworn to it, it would be to me a second religion."

"If his power were equal to his will, slavery would vanish from the Empire with a single strike."

"I was born to consecrate myself to the languages and sciences, and, if I had to choose between occupying a political position, I would rather be a president or minister to that of an Emperor."

"The long reign of the great Dom Pedro II put Brazil among the leading democratic nations. Americans of today know him well, for you have engraved his noble features upon a postage stamp which comes to the United States with every mail from Brazil. We recall with pleasure that he was the first monarch to visit the United States, when he came to the exposition at Philadelphia in 1876 which marked the centenary of our independence."

""I will not pose nude because this all withered"."

"I think it would not work. I would be very jealous. It would be better if it was just sex."

"Never voted (in Lula) and never vote."

"I will not permit my government to be influenced by the markets."

"What is modernity? Is it defending foreign interests, or defending interests of our country?"

"[Brazil] needs to forget a little about New York, Manhattan, and think about its slums, its suffering people."

"Minister Dilma Rousseff has a strong personality, a male side in the way in which she stamps her management."

"We cannot rest while Brazilians are going hungry, while families are living in the streets, while poor children are abandoned to their own fates and while crack and crack dens rule."

"It'a an immense joy to be here today. I have received from millions of male and female Brazilians the most important mission of my life. This fact, beyond myself, is a demonstration of the democratic development of our country because for the first time a woman will rule Brazil."

"If today is Children's Day, yesterday I said that child... the children's day is mother's day, father's day and teachers' day, but is also the day of the animals. Whenever you look at a child, there is always a hidden figure, which is a dog behind, which is something very important."

"Any comparison between the military dictatorship and democracy can only come from those who do not value the Brazilian democracy. (...) I am proud to have lied. Lying under torture is not easy. In the face of torture, a person with dignity lies. Enduring torture is very difficult (...) The pain is unbearable; you can not imagine how. I am proud to have lied, because I saved my comrades from the same torture and from death."

"Reality has changed, and we changed with it. However, I never changed sides. I have always been on the side of justice, democracy and social equality."

"There is no more significant geopolitical consequence today than the growing strategic partnership between China and Russia. Ironically, it is precisely the maximum US pressure on Russia and the containment of China that played a key role in bringing the two countries closer together. The economic sanctions stemming from Russia’s annexation of Crimea and now the war in Ukraine are strengthening a new geopolitical pole, and accelerating changes that would only come slowly."

"Still we celebrate Ayrton Senna, twenty five years after losing him on May Day 1994. I was in that race, driving the McLaren that he stepped out of to go to Williams. Terrible day... such tragedy, such loss, such a waste of God-given talent. There's only one thing that would make me happier today, and that surprisingly enough is not driving this car, it'd be standing in the pitlane waiting to interview our friend Ayrton after he'd had another drive of this amazing racing car. Obrigado, Senna."

"Ayrton was the most misunderstood person out there because he got such a bad rap in the media. I can assure you he was a good person. He was very supportive of me last year."

"He might have been the greatest driver of all time. There was not a weakness in Ayrton Senna."

"His loss is impossible to quantify. Everyone who has ever met him in whatever capacity feels they have lost someone very special."

"Senna was the greatest driver ever and when someone like him is killed you have to ask yourself what is the point of it all."

"I tried to find weaknesses in Senna, but I couldn't. He is 100 per cent in everything. I learned a lot from him, so for me it was a good three years. And I still like Senna. We had good fun, a good relationship."

"To my mind, he was the best driver Grand Prix racing has ever seen."

"He got to a position where he was only equalled probably, by Fangio."

"The guy is head and shoulders ahead of everybody else currently in Formula One."

"Without doubt the greatest racing driver ever."

"Probably the greatest racing driver of all time."

"Ayrton Senna is a genius. I define genius as just the right side of imbalance. He is highly developed to the point where he's almost over the edge. It's a close call."

"Without any doubt the best driver in Grand Prix racing today."

"He was probably the fastest champion I ever saw. He was always stretching the elastic. My goodness was he quick."

"I'll be honest with you; I was never a Senna fan. I always thought Gilles Villeneuve was the greatest racing driver of them all. But, to make this film, I've watched hours and hours and hours of footage. And the thing is, Villeneuve was spectacular on a number of occasions. Senna — he was spectacular every single time he got in a car."

"The best driver in Grand Prix racing, the best driver in the world by a long way."