Roman Catholic Archbishops

"The living out of the Good News that is the coming of the Kingdom of justice and peace is being blocked and undermined by the economic injustices that disregard the basic conditions for human dignity and integral human development. Jesus' mission of proclaiming the Good News to the poor is our mission as Church and therefore we must necessarily address the conditions within which the poor are greatly suffering."

"The ministry of a Bishop must help to make the world which is becoming dehumanized become Ecclesia, a people in communion and a worshipping people."

"What matters is following your conscience as a Catholic. Everyone had this duty in Poland."

"To me, he's a man who symbolizes what it means to be a man of service.. service for the people of God and service for the Church."

"One of our biggest problems is that the authorities frequently confuse the social labor of the church with subversion. The church cannot confine itself to preaching a spiritual message without doing anything to put that message into practice. If a man is starving, he must be fed first of all. Military authorities have told me that the church should only preach, and not act, but without good works, faith has no life."

"The glaring problem of the Church in Andhra Pradesh is that of inculturation. The faith has to be incarnated in the context of the multiple culture of the people."

"Cardinal Mazombwe was always among us in his humble way as one at our service. He was a man of conviction, a man of faith, a man of prayer."

"Conversion has no meaning! Proselytisation has no meaning if you do not convert yourself to God and see what God has to tell you. Follow his will, his plan and that is real religion. So therefore, I personally do not believe at all in proselytisation. The last point I would like to say is that, Christianity has made terrible blunders in the past! Terrible, not horrible! One of them was to mix faith with culture. If you go to India, you take Indian culture, if you go to Africa, take African culture, if you go to Japan, take Japan culture. We have made a lot of mistakes, a lot of blunders. That there is no salvation outside of Christ is not fully true. It is one way of looking at it if we have faith. But what I said was, salvation is from God, not from religion. If you understand that fully, the full answer is there."

"In the tasks in which he consumed his life, Monsignor Luciano always maintained the same way of proceeding, which made him loved and admired by all those who knew him: softly spoken, firm in principles, strong in action. It is thus that we want to remember him."

"In a way, this persecution has heightened the awareness among the Christians of the Passion and Death of Jesus and of the Victory of the Resurrection, the faithful are not only united, but their fidelity to the Church has been strengthened"

"The missionary dimension of the Church is the fruit of love for Christ. America has been blessed with ardent missionaries who gave us the Christian faith, and even today they choose the poorest and needy areas."

"The answer is to live to its fullest our faith in Jesus and to openly proclaim the supreme gift of God to humanity: grace and salvation through Jesus made man. The answer is to live our ecclesial life in Jesus more intensely, and openly proclaim the message of salvation, clearly and boldly, without disputes between churches and in the joy of our Catholic identity."

"I have been amazed to see the constant flow of pilgrims who come to show their devotion to Mary from all over the continent and this is a sort of mark of our people. This is for me an example and an encouragement for my own personal life of faith."

"As pertaining to the Church's public charity, we must underline the following: in the relations of the Catholic Church with the States and with the European Union we believe that one must certainly overcome confessionalism as well as hostile laicism. The prospect of healthy laity must become ours, which involves recognizing that society needs the contribution of religious professions to ensure its ethical-cultural foundations."

"Personal and intellectual qualities are not guarantees of being the right person to take on the guidance of a flock. The episcopate is a grace that must be lived pastorally. It cannot be conferred as a prize or as confirmation or as a political function."

"The election of a Pope is an act of faith, not a political act. Therefore whoever is elected is the Vicar of Christ, since we know in faith that Christ Jesus in person leads his Church."

"Mother Teresa was saint of mercy and compassion who fully lived every moment of her life. She lived compassion towards every man, especially towards the sick, the lepers, the abandoned. Today she teaches us to put mercy at the center of the Church's activity. We feel strongly inspired by her."

"We have to reach out to families and villages not with an agenda but as a missionary thrust for freedom. Jesus' missionary thrust of moving out is the only model before us."

"We are all the human family and are all together. What happens in one corner of the world affects others. We are all related that way."

"Put aside the divisiveness of Democrat, or Republican, or any other political party, and see the face of Christ in our neighbors, especially the people who are suffering and even those who disagree with us."

"That simple but immensely powerful message must be hammered home, night and day, both to activate closet pro-lifers and to stir the consciences of people who, were they to acknowledge the better angels of their natures, would soften their hearts."

"Together with those who declare their membership of other religions there are also more people who do not practice any religion. It is a matter of individualism and subjectivism. This complex situation requires a differentiated, complete pastoral response."

"We insist on strengthening the community and promoting the physical presence at the celebrations of Holy Mass and other Sacraments, without which there is no basic support for living the faith. I think that the modern means of communication are very useful, but they will never replace the physical presence in the churches."

"We are at a critical stage of the journey to peace and a shared future in Northern Ireland. We need investment for peace, stability and growth, not measures that leave tens of thousands of our young people without hope or a stake in a better future. We know that our local politicians could take their own decisions on this matter but we want to support them in making the case to Westminster that Northern Ireland does have unique circumstances."

"God has made us participants of his life through Jesus Christ – and he does so again today. Born from participation is the particular, also one’s own witness of faith. We must so act that people seek and find God in all things, men and events. However the spiritual evolution of the last decades cannot be easily overturned. Proclamation of the Gospel is a long process. It requires much care of details, even apparently insignificant, from person to person, from family to family."

"I am honoured to receive this charge from the Holy Father. Of course I have no pastoral plan for the archdiocese of Manila. I will elaborate it with all the components of the local Church once I have taken possession. But the overall plan is always the same: to render present the Kingdom of God, give space to evangelisation and also to personal reflection and works of charity."

"Remaining faithful has to be the anchor. But part of what we have to be faithful to is getting the Gospel not to people of 1389 but 1989. Part of being faithful is appropriate change."

"in our American culture, we say, you make the decision as expeditiously as you can. You implement it, you publicize it, and you get it over with as quickly as possible. Well, "as quickly as possible" is not part of the Roman curial vocabulary."

"The process towards worldliness, in great part fruit of urban, modern, and post-modern culture, which afflicts the family today, profoundly weakens fundamental family values, as, with respect to life, matrimonial indissolubility, conjugal fidelity, and religious education of children."

"The close relationships in our parishes allow for quick and uncomplicated mutual contact between pastors and laity, so that an intellectual and spiritual exchange has always been, and still is, possible. All those who wish to do so can enter into dialogue with one another, listen to one another, and maintain personal communication about suggestions, wishes, and ideas in everyday Church life."

"It is dangerous to distinguish between the charismatic Church and the institutional Church, entrusting the former with the promotion and presence of movements and the latter with "second class Christians". The Church is wholly and always charismatic as an institution."

"It is not only humans who are controlled by fihavanana but the whole cosmos with all elements that form it: the stars, the mineral world, the vegetable world, the animal world, the human body, etc.. and that give us some examples of fihavanana in negative or positive. Many proverbs express and show these statements. From this value of fihavanana, theological reflection on truths of the Christian revelation has been done with adjustments, purification and the necessary overcoming."

"The new Pontiff, as he has said himself, will act in continuity with his predecessor Pope John Paul II, that is, he will continue along the path of ecumenical and interreligious dialogue, the implementation of Vatican II, the search for peace and security for all. The latter is particularly dear to the hearts of Africans, victims of decades of war for which the international community finds it hard to provide suitable solutions."

"It's a fact that we are called to live in a climate of faith, above all, to give thanks to God for the witness that these brothers of ours left us."

"Our communion with the universal Church is fundamental but it is not a real communion without uniting our differences. We promote a "communion in diversity". What is important is for our experiences to be recognised and respected. The Bishops personally and in collegiality know how to understand in the culture of Madagascar what is compatible with the Gospel. Moreover we want our local Church to bring to Catholicism the graces of her witness."

"The Brotherhoods are a transversal reality, like the Church itself. Popular piety is not for illiterate people, it is a way of encountering God: the via pulchritudinis which is not only perfectly valid for the encounter with God, but is complementary to a more speculative way. There are many very educated, very cultured people, for whom this way is the one that most helps them to encounter God."

"Let us speak out not as experts, but rather as Pastors of the American continent."

"The Catholic University is working on and thinking about a more humanistic economy. What's the point of calling ourselves Catholic if we're designing the same economy as Harvard or Bocconi?"

"We need to overcome the emotional reaction that says that to be good we must accept everyone, or that to be serious we must reject everyone. This emotional aspect may serve as a slogan for election campaigns, but not for the society we want."

"The spiritual emergency is more widespread. All we hear about is the COVID-19 pandemic of 2019-2021. This has led to a state of spiritual aridity, with people besieged by emotions, apprehensions and news. We live in limbo, but beneath the news there is often a void."

"Blessed are you, Milan, for the multicoloured faces of your people [...], because you give voice to those who have no voice and come to the aid of those who have no help."

"The death of Sister Luisa Dell'Orto leaves us heartbroken and disconcerted, it becomes a revelation of the good she did and of the holy life she lived, it becomes pain and prayer. On behalf of the Ambrosian Church, I express my participation in the mourning of her family, in the grateful and sorrowful memory of all those who knew her, and in the certainty that her death, so similar to that of Charles de Foucauld, united to the death of Jesus, may be a seed of new life for the land of Haiti and for its entry into glory."

"I remembered the prophet Jeremiah: as national catastrophe loomed, wiping out the Kingdom of Judah, he bought a field, investing in the future. This was the opposite of those who, in this day and age, have become even richer without caring about providing jobs or redistributing wealth."

"A lot of people are really afraid that we are going to start imposing things through the government. I have absolutely no nostalgic feelings for that time. I want to go forward. Of course, we have nothing to impose on anyone — not the government nor the people. We want to propose but not impose. We propose and present the message and people are free to accept it."

"I would propose that this Synod in this Year of the Family sends a strong message concerning the African Church’s determination to multiply its effort and to use its resources for the building up of sound Christian Family Life, where values of the Gospel are experienced and lived. We must be determined to counter and fight all that would destroy such family life."

"I think questions should be welcome, because the only way that people will learn is asking questions. Now, there are two ways of asking questions: one is staking out a claim and another is genuinely seeking an answer."

"We have to help people to discover Jesus for themselves, of course! We create the ambiance."

"For the poorest of the poor the Church is Mother, the Church is the bearer of a message of peace and love. We hope the new Pontiff will continue with interreligious dialogue, to have special relationship with young people and to fight against secularisation. In Algeria Catholics live in a difficult context but we offer our contribution towards building harmony among the peoples and the religions of the world."

"We are happy that God has given us a common mission here in Algeria. And this mission is all the more important at a time when the pressure of globalisation comes up against reaffirmation of the specific identity of different civilisations, nations and cultures. We are convinced that by means of the "sacrament of encounter" we are called to operate together with our Muslim friends in their diversity, welcoming those among them who wish to have a better understanding of who we are."

"The Islamic-Christian dialogue may appear overcome when Islamic movements in certain Muslim countries stir up armed groups and set up their followers against whoever does not share their ideas. The Church of Algeria is undergoing a trial of this kind. Fidelity to their vocation - in a difficult context - as priests, religious brothers, religious sisters and lay missionaries shows that this development of fundamentalist movements of Islam does not justify abandoning dialogue."