Roman Catholic Archbishops

"The vital reality of the Church is moving toward the East and is flourishing in Africa and Asia. I say it with sadness: I am the grandson of Europeans, and the culture that I have assumed is European, but the spirit of the revolution has devastated Christian culture; the crisis is expressed in ecclesiastical progressivism, complicit in a revolution that liquidates the natural order of creation."

"He eliminates the work of his predecessors by placing arbitrary limits and obstacles to what they, with intra-ecclesial ecumenical intent and respect for the freedom of priests and faithful, established! It promotes ecclesial communion in reverse. The new measures involve a regrettable step backwards."

"We see that the state cannot fully protect the lives and property of the population, but it takes time to rebuild the civil code, the penal code, and to impose these new paradigms that are but the tip of the iceberg of a new colonialism, a world imperialism that despises the poor in particular."

"The use of the electronic media along with the print media must continue unabated as we face the gigantic task of evangelising Africa."

"We cannot mediate without preliminary formation, otherwise it is guaranteed to fail. Mediators need to stay united if they wish to do their job properly."

"An emphasis on a patient, didactic and global spirituality of communion with a missionary, solidarity orientation throughout the Church starting from the seminaries, priests, men and women religious and lay faithful, pastoral facilities and plans, should enable the Church in America to be in Christ, as the sign and instrument of close communion with God and the unity of all mankind."

"The practice of dealing with different groups, often opposed, just like with the representatives of the political, economic and cultural world, often requires resistance and firmness in situations of conflict, which must be faced in the spirit and with the forcefulness of the Gospel."

"We need priests especially who have encountered Christ in a most personal and committed way both from within the experience of their own culture and from within their personal experience of the living Christian tradition which they have inherited. Only such persons can truly communicate Christ and his mystery to their own people. These are the type of future priests we need to build up the local Church and make the faith a culture that is fully accepted."

"We must not be afraid to name and shame the devil or to correct the ills of society if we want to be a truly reconciled African continent."

"As he was leaving the room, he said it a third time, “You are a very young bishop." By this time, I had the courage to respond, "Your Holiness, you have yourself to blame for that.""

"I hope many other initiatives will help us fight with the most powerful weapons we have: prayer, penance, fasting, charity, which are the weapons of Lent and which can help us overcome this challenge."

"We need to have more individual churches that aren't these mega-churches in order to maintain our identity as Catholic, and to ensure that everybody is known and has an identity in that community."

"Any reference to forced conversions is not plausible, as conversion is a free act of the heart of each person. It is the work of God, not man."

"Being a deacon is a spiritual configuration to Jesus who is the servant of all and who wants to remain present in his family, which is the Church. His body that extends in society, his mystical body that walks in history, grows in history, a body of which He is the head and of which we are its living members. Love is the cement that unites all these living stones so that we may be God's dwelling place."

"I am not scared by the powerful since the Lord is with me."

"The faithful are called out by the word of the living God to live Catholicism in the image of God, the One and the Trinity. Plurality is the very essence of Catholicism: unity in diversity, bound by a deep bond of love."

"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."

"Mercy prolongs love and makes it even more beautiful. Mercy cannot be taken lightly. God is ever Father, and every, even every prodigal son, is to love Him, trust in Him, and keep returning to Him. This teaching comes to us without interruption from the pages of the Bible. And not only the teaching - it is God Himself who comes to the people. He sent His Son down to help people come up to Him."

"We must not limit ourselves to words alone. To convince someone is to convert them, and to assist that conversion, we must not be afraid to share with another human being in his difficulties and sufferings. We have to be witnesses to God's mercy."

"The gift of life is the highest good; we are convinced of that as Christians."

"I would like to call attention to the serious situation of the Continent in the southern hemisphere. The North must take account of the globalization of the neo-liberal system which is emarginating millions and millions of poor brethren of Latin America. We need not only to fight the facts but also struggle to overcome the deadly system of capitalism in its present terrible phase which is economic neo-liberalism."

"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."

"As we look forward to Christmas, I encourage all to celebrate in moderation, let us remember to share our joy with the poor and less privileged. God gave Jesus to us as a gift and we must also offer ourselves as gifts to other, in terms of doing whatever we can to bring peace, comfort and solace to others"

"I never betrayed Christ and his church in deeds, words or intentions. I never inflicted any harm on anyone."

"The time has arrived when we all have to ask ourselves "What is up to me to do?", and I believe that that is synodality."

"We need to affirm continually that the lay faithful have a rightful place in the Church. They are indeed the agents of evangelisation as proclamation. There is already a lot of good work which is being accomplished by the laity in the building of the Church in our African countries. Many of our parishes and outstations have been founded and sustained by the untiring efforts of men and women lay Catechists. Christian families and the Apostolic movements of the laity are enthusiastically engaged in building Small Christian Communities which seem to be the best way for us of being a Church in our African countries."

"When you sit on the money for the poor, they will cry and God will hear them."

"We pray for peace and wait for the moment when lasting solutions can be reached. Not a cosmetic peace, but lasting answers for the people here but also for the federal state. To be a strong nation, all of India needs each of its states to be healthy, peaceful and prosperous. Let us pray for this together with all other religious leaders because together we can get out of this moment. And our hope is rooted not in merely psychological optimism, but in God."

"Christians are everywhere, in all three tribal communities, the Kuki, the Meitei and the Naga, and therefore, in essence, the experience of being brothers and sisters in Christ can restore the sense of community and fraternity and help to see the other not as an enemy, but as brothers and sisters with whom one can live peacefully. Faith in Christ helps to create peace and justice."

"All we desire is peace and unity and love to reign among the citizens of Tanzania, irrespective of religious beliefs."

"We went there to tell him that we acknowledged his religious authority and that we did not have the intention to depart from the church. We wanted to reconcile, and that is what we did. The charge was connected to the alleged offense to the church. But now, if the church states that it is not offended, the charge is senseless."

"Catechist, with great gratitude and affection, I want to tell you that one day the Lord Jesus will give you a big hug, a big hug of gratitude for having accepted and dedicated time and intelligence, affection and creativity, everything so that the name of the Lord Jesus be understood and loved. May the Lord multiply the blessings for you, dear catechists, for the blessing they are for the Church."

"Catechesis is a path, a discipleship, a meeting that lasts through the years. But the Lord is never outdone in generosity."

"Expanding the space of your tent means drawing closer together so there’s more room for others to join us."

"We are united not only by the vast waters of the Pacific Ocean but also by faith in Jesus Christ. This faith which we share as brothers and sisters is what brings us here today to proclaim our profound faith in our Saviour Jesus Christ...We see the end of missionary efforts and we too have become missionaries to take part in the new evangelisation united with the Holy Father."

"Christian joy has to do with knowing that Jesus accompanies us; it is to be truly aware that he conquered death forever with his resurrection."

"I pray that our collaboration and exchange over these few days will convey to the world our shared hope that the abolition of nuclear weapons is possible, that world peace is attainable, and that the circle of cooperation for the realization of peace will further expand."

"This is the community of today: a community of faith that, after having experienced such tragic moments, bears witness to the hope of the risen Christ: precisely because we are facing death, persecution, death of the atomic bomb, and from these shocking events, we have risen again, there is hope in our hearts, yes, recovery, rebirth, thanks to the work of God."

"The priority needs to be the staff and their safety and earnings. The safety of the company needs to be second, but it needs to be in existence to pay its workers. The business enterprise is not for the benefit of the owner; it is for the good of the worker and the common good of society. This is not a law of mercy: this is a law of justice."

"Education as a psycho-social process is closely linked to evangelization, as well as being essential for its success. Cultural priority in Latin America lies in the coherent experience of human and Christian values. We cannot imagine the integral promotion of man, much less the commitment to it, without undergoing an authentic commitment and attachment to the educational process."

"May the testimony of dedication and the blood of the fathers encourage us to ask the Holy Spirit for the gift of parrhesia, that evangelical courage, to bear firm witness to the Kingdom of God and vigorously denounce violence, injustice and the structures of sin that oppose the project of Jesus of Nazareth."

"Open your arms to those who are suffering and searching for better lives."

"Should we Africans allow foreigners to tell us what to do or what not to do at the level of our families, our domestic Church and first school? When the Church's moral authority to teach what is a Divine Law is destroyed, what shall protect us from having that divine mandate totally destroyed? Is it fair to exchange our birth right that is based on the freedom of a well informed conscience, for any amount of money?"

"We often talk about inculturation as if it had to do only with the liturgy. However, inculturation embraces the totality of human life, including morality, spirituality and forms of religious life. Inculturation should lead us to find ways of handling effectively some of the many evils of our present day society."

"Corruption violates God's commandment "Thou shalt not steal." It violates the good name and the rights of individuals and harms public resources - which should benefit everyone - and blocks the integral development of peoples. The Church in America is called upon to denounce corruption and promote integrity by word and by example, to proclaim the value of the beatitudes, to recall the teachings of Christ, conversion, justice, solidarity, honesty and integrity."

"My proposal is that, given the close theological, spiritual and pastoral relationship between the Eucharist and the Sacrament of Penance, and taking into account the shadows in the latter sacrament's field, a year be dedicated to the Sacrament of Penance."

"See others with the eyes of disciples and missionaries of Jesus Christ."

"Preserve this cultural wealth so that it will not be gradually eradicated by modern culture."

"We understand one another and we are able to work together for the good of society. Through this dynamic of frequent meetings, in spite of provocations, we are able to maintain peace."

"The tempest in which the African continent lives brings to mind that, for all the projects discussed during this Synod, one must remember that the African wager is a long term wager."