Catholics From Spain

"The great Christian community can only be achieved by starting from small groups constructed by personal faith and mutual love, in order to reach all of society, since mankind, linked to God privately and publicly in the social, cultural, political sphere etc., can come together in an orderly sovereignty integrating history, religion, culture and many institutions."

"The Church's horizons extend throughout the whole world, and she is responsible for all individuals and their salvation. The grace of God is conveyed by the individual churches to all the rest, with the ecclesial community being the sign and blessing in this respect. The 500th anniversary of the missionaries who founded the Church in America and made her flourish requires us to accept a missionary approach towards every believer and every institution."

"What kind of positive future can there be for our society? As far as the government is concerned, none."

"The more this "romanity" is felt in the daily existence of Priests and of the other lay faithful, the more effective will be our contribution towards the building up of the Church in Europe and, from Europe, in the whole world."

"A people that wants peace cannot remain passive in their concern."

"The priest's concrete humanity is "humus," the inherent seat of the other dimensions. It is not an inert seat, but simultaneously active and receptive. Formation in the other dimensions should not be a superimposed addition, but must be rooted within the human person, in his mentality, affectivity and will."

"It is said, and rightly so, that Europe must breathe with both lungs: West and East. It is not less true to say that the life of our society must breathe in all aspects with its two lungs: male and female."

"The Lord wants us to be in the world, not of the world. The Christian style of life is not easy but the Lord helps us."

"I ask God that the Pope's words and deeds may find an echo in many generous young people and encourage them to follow Christ and to cooperate with him in the work of the Church in today’s world. Young people seek to give meaning to life, seek an authentic message and find in the Pope a reference point in which they find contents that fill them with meaning and lead them to the source, which is Jesus Christ."

"The main aspect of these Churches of ours in North Africa is dialogue and encounter with the Muslims who are our neighbours. To create bonds of friendship, of encounter, of love, in the variety of who we are, making friendships. Because we can talk and appreciate each other based on that friendship. I believe that friendship is at the base of all interreligious dialogue."

"[Santa Monica Radio] is the best pulpit that has the Prelature of Chota and Cutervo."

"For now, our work is to show the face of Christ, to make Him present, to sow the seed. In reality, the anti-proselytism climate is not much different from some clearly anti-church obstacles in the West."

"I come to revive the spirit of the holidays so endearing in this region. I wish to record my admiration for the people of the three smoke, as I said in my previous sermon: Factory smoke, gunpowder smoke and incense smoke. That is to say: industry; fiesta; and religion."

"For many of our Catholics the Eucharist is above all a meal deriving mainly from the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, and not so much a sacrifice that embraces the whole Paschal Mystery. An in-depth catechesis on the Eucharist as a sacrifice should be imparted to our people who would be able to understand it well in the light of their traditional beliefs."

"He left his office as Prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments "on tiptoe", to devote himself to the service which on the contrary one must never give up: prayer. And now that the Heavenly Father has desired to have the Cardinal beside him, I am certain that in Heaven - where we trust the Lord has welcomed him in his fatherly embrace - he continues to pray for us."

"It is not difficult to imagine the joy that awaits John Paul II to see an invalid ascend to Bernini's glory."

"Besides the individual apostolate in the service of all, which is irreplaceable, community forms are of particular importance, not only for anthropological and social reasons but for ecclesiological reasons."

"Though the spiritual life of our countrymen, thanks to linguistic and cultural affinities with Italy, is nourished now also in the parishes of the City, nevertheless, we keep up the liturgical and community life that befits a priestly dwelling."

"Thousands of women, men, children, old people, peasants, natives, lawyers, media people, mothers of families, catechists and religious leaders have given their lives as martyrs for the Kingdom of God, and for their brethren. Following the example of these martyrs of the faith, who believed that those who die have more to gain than those who kill, the layman, the Christian of today, has a mission to accomplish in society: renew the family, do away with corruption and poverty."

"The Holy Father pointed out on one occasion that Latin America was preparing to reevangelize Europe and to evangelize other regions of the world; and he saw this as the plan for the region for the Third Millennium. Latin America is now a mature Church, ready to give a Pope to the universal Church, if not during this conclave, then during the next."

"Draw everyone, young people especially to march towards Christ, towards the new heavens and the new earth of which the Bible speaks. This is a difficult march, but a march of joy and promise. We are guided and accompanied by Pope Benedict XVI who illuminates and orients the way with his special charisma as Bishop and teacher. We must listen to the Pope and accept the programme he indicates with joy and generosity."

"We should be very faithful to pastoral philosophy and the divine evangelizing teaching of Jesus. Perhaps we should be more concerned, not only with the poor as the primary object of Evangelization, but also with poverty itself in Evangelization as a source of apostolic fertility. Considering our resources and time, it is important to give further attention to direct evangelization."

"Without a decent job to provide for the family's well-being, we're just putting band-aids on the problem. The culture of work needs to be renewed. The culture of work upon which our parents and grandparents build their families has been broken. And therefore, today we have young people who don't know what to do, who have no vision, who can neither study nor work."

"Qui desitja servir Déu es menester que estiga molt content en tota cosa."

"The only alternative for a terminally ill person and their dignity is palliative care, not euthanasia, which from the perspective of legality and false compassion, totally destroys the dignity of the patient and places medical personnel and caregivers in the difficult situation of having to betray their most genuine vocation, which is to heal and provide care."

"The right to health is an important conquest of modern times. Progress in science and technology has given the human person more control over life and health. Therefore we can and we must exercise a right which cannot be renounced to ensure that this new control is used for the benefit of mankind, with respect for human dignity and integrity of every individual."

"The Christian community of the mother church in Jerusalem has always been in need from the beginning. It is therefore a duty for all Catholics in the world to sustain Christians in that Blessed Land."

"In Jesus Christ, was revealed a God of love, who preaches and sends out love. And that love must be shown to men through the word, the sacraments and charity."

"If we trivialize Communion, we trivialize everything, and we cannot lose a moment as important as that of receiving Communion, of recognizing the real presence of Christ there, of the God who is the love above all loves, as we sing in a hymn in Spanish."

"At this point in his pontificate, no one doubts that Pope Francis gives as much importance, if not more, to gestures than to words. For he who knows that, in the task of evangelization, words should be used only when necessary, gestures are never casual."

"Much courage is needed to make a decision of this importance, and I'm sure that he thought about it very thoroughly. So we ask the Lord to continue to accompany and bless him for the immense good he has done. Meanwhile I lament that in the future we won't have the lucidity and clarity of his teaching as Pontiff, although we will be able to continue to profit from the books, addresses and documents he has left us."

"I believe that if this war remains, this strong sense of the communion of people against the conflict and in favor of peace and necessary progress in such a poor country is also created."

"Dialogue between the belligerents is not easy, although this is the path to follow. Furthermore, the international community should work harder to bring peace back to the country and put it back on the path to democracy, with the contribution and participation of Sudanese people."

"The presence of contemplatives is a reminder of the primacy of God: that God is the most important thing. We need these reminders of God's presence. We need to vindicate this presence of the contemplative life, of monks and nuns. Without God, you have nothing. By reminding us of this truth, contemplatives not only become a way of raising a silent cry to God for our world, for people, they also remind us that God loves us, forgives us, has saved us in his Son Jesus Christ, embraces us, and brings us to wholeness."

"Corruption is difficult to neutralize because it adopts multiple forms; it is stamped out in one area, and resurfaces in another. We need persistent will on the part of leaders and the generous collaboration of all citizens."

"The greatest challenge has been to work for the poor and for those who are far from the Church. I thank God for this award but I would say that the greatest honour I wear is the cross of Christ."

"There is clearly a pastoral dimension. We have the task of promoting and defending the Faith, preaching the Faith. This is an eminently pastoral role. It involves promoting the Catholic Faith so that it is increasingly known and, when there are problems, defending this Faith as well."

"The prophet not only speaks "in the name of God" but also "speaks about God" ... and this is better. Does the Vincentian charism speak about God? Without a doubt it does. Indeed, for the society in which we live, is there a better way to speak about God than that of using the gestures of justice and charity."

"Pope Francis is a man of great pastoral ability of strong faith, a man of prayer and very close to the priests, the elderly, the poor, and above all, a man who emphasized the missionary commitment of the Church in our community and in our city. The election is a joy and a huge gift."

"The family is the heart of coexistence. The most profound experience of society that we all have is the family. If the family ceases to be the place of true love, love ceases to exist in the world and it is replaced by egoism. This is a catastrophe. The Church is taking very seriously the defense of the truth of the family, defending the truth of love exactly as Jesus manifested it."

"It's not about doing new things but about being genuinely faithful to what the essence of the Christian faithful is. Some think that the renewal will bring about new things or something like that. Instead, the renewal will help us to cleanse ourselves a bit, so that the face of Jesus Christ will shine in our face, because this is what it means to be a Christian."

"The renewed consecration of Spain to the Sacred Heart will not bring forth abundant fruit of life and of witness of Christian love without holy priests.” Spain, the Spain of today, needs many holy priests according to the heart of Christ!"

"When there is hostility towards the family, then not only it is misunderstood, but it is mistreated; so the need to affirm its faith and its content of natural and supernatural reality, becomes a primary and fundamental postulate in the evangelizing mission of the Church."

"Human autonomy has become the greatest value, progress has replaced providence and the role of God, in large measure, has disappeared from consciences. God will never deprive man of his freedom. Acting with a purpose that is contrary to the good of his human nature is not true freedom, as freedom orders him toward the good."

"The apostolicity that Compostela summarizes is due to the evangelizing breath of the Apostle James, protomartyr among the Apostles. So it is that Santiago de Compostela shines still today as head of Christian Spain and even of the whole of the Hispanic world, opening his radius of influence above and beyond Spanish or Hispanic geography, as attested by the constant flow of pilgrims."

"like in all realities of the Church and of society - a fallen tree makes more noise than a forest that is kept alive."

"If it is true that the charism is translated into life and that life changes, then the works can also change: when an institute does not know how to adapt to this change, it risks concentrating only on the economic aspect, that is, on the funds to support the works. We have seen that in these cases, in order to save the works, it is possible to have many members lose their vocation and to put the charism itself at risk."

"God Almighty who knows everything is with you. The heavenly Father helps all those who face such suffering like the tsunami disaster."

"You know we are all responsible for building peace in the world. Respond to blind violence and inhuman hatred with the extraordinary power of love. Forgive those who offend you. Do not let yourselves be dragged into manifestations of nationalism, racism and intolerance."

"The Christian must be a universal brother, open to all without distinctions, preserving his own identity, but establishing bridges of respect, friendship, solidarity with the whole world. This is another way of evangelizing, perhaps more costly and more exacting than that by word. We are called to live evangelical values like love, justice, forgiveness, solidarity with everyone, especially with the poorest."