Roman Catholic Bishops

"I continue to steadfastly deny that I have ever abused anyone at any time. Therefore, I will ask the Vatican, which has ultimate jurisdiction over such cases, to review the matter, with the hope of ultimately proving my innocence"

"Create awareness about what Christmas means: the message of the everlasting love of Lord Jesus, who loved the human race without any caste or religious differences."

"We face constant harassment and persecution. The need of the hour is to address people's grievances and establish rapport with political parties of different ideologies to safeguard our people's interest."

"This is a tragic time for us, but we should pray and remain united, without retaliating in the face of the violence."

"I truly believe that one day we will find peace in our world, but only through prayer and sacrifice."

"We are called to serve the people in the parish. We are servants of the people. The more we serve them, and in serving them, we love them—the more they respond. That's when the Church grows."

"Inculturation is going to be the background of evangelisation in Africa. But it will have to be not only by Bishops and priests but by the people themselves. They know their cultures, songs and traditions, etc. We love life, ceremonies and rituals. This is a great step towards inculturation."

"Our country is not perfect, but I love her because of the good that she accomplishes. I must work to make the country better, not by tearing her down but working to build her up."

"The Church at large, especially the Indian Church and the Society of the Divine Word in particular, have lost a young, energetic and beloved people's pastor. As friends and companions we lived together from the first days of education until the final days of our priestly ordinations. He was a simple, hard working, dedicated pastor. He had a large heart for the poor and marginalised. The gap created by his passing will remain, forever."

"The diocese responded immediately with medical and material aid. The victims are badly traumatised and need a long period of professional counselling, besides the Sacraments. This programme will last for 3 - 5 years. The response from inside and outside Papua New Guinea was immense. The tragedy brought the churches together in an ecumenical exercise of charity. This gives hope for the future of Christianity in Papua New Guinea."

"Much is invested in the Liturgy. The number of persons that assist in the Eucharistic celebration, however, continues to decrease. The Liturgy finds itself involved in a continuous and damaging change. To the loss of the mystery, the sacred, the respect one must respond with an interiorization of the Liturgy: religiosity, holy silence, Eucharistic devotion and rediscovery of confession."

"It's very simple: our people are a people who are not given to anxiously rushing about, prying or disturbing others. I think the basic attitude here is this: if the Pope likes to come here - and in some ways he chooses here because he knows that the conditions here favour rest – so be it. For my part, I have asked that there be a large participation at the Angelus and then in other times a great respect for him and his privacy. I believe, it is essential not to take advantage of his presence."

"It is a joy to serve the Lord here in the Diocese of Charlotte. Remember that everything – all that we have and all that we do – is a gift from a loving God."

"What is said in the Gospel: the most disadvantaged and unfairly treated, the least in the social order, will be first in the Kingdom of Heaven."

"I think that when a man becomes a bishop he doesn't cease to be a citizen and as a citizen every responsible man has right make up his own mind and his own conscience and to follow it and I think also that wise people would believe that everybody being free to to ventilate his own view, whether they like them or not, well, that's the real freedom of democracy."

"Peace never occurs in isolation. It is the fruition of a good life for all. For that reason, working for peace is considered to be a highly esteemed spiritual value. Peace is the greatest blessing of God to a people. Working for peace should be a central concern of the Church."

"The blows never really stopped from the right or the left, but he continued on because for Daniel Mannix the spiritual and the practical missions were connected the why and the how they informed each other and they enriched each other. Now Daniel Mannix was one of a kind and during the Labor split I couldn't say his role was a good one, there might be others in the audience who disagreed, but there's so much that we can learn from his long life."

"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."

"The task of providing moral direction to the highly complex socio-economic forces of our time must be addressed from within nations and across natural boundaries simultaneously. In its work of relief and development CRS wants to be an effective equal partner with local Churches in Central and South America and the Caribbean Region. Partnership here means attending scrupulously to the pastoral vision, practices and goals of the local church."

"The Word of the Bible is not taken as a mere information ABOUT Jesus but as a sacramental sign of Christ's presence among us."

"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."

"The marked reduction in pilgrims threatens the existence of Palestinian Christians. Their situation has greatly worsened."

"Dear young people, today as we look up at the sky, we see that the rain we wanted all summer long is falling. I am also looking at you and believe that you are the saving rain that soaks the earth and makes it fertile."

"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."

"Whatever happens, I'll be here to the very end, and so will my priests. All we can do now is pray to God, who is now the only one who can bring back peace."

"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."

"My biggest prayer was for peace and that peace would come as soon as possible. I can say that more people attended Mass during that time than during the normal times."

"Dialogue is the key for the local churches in the vast nation of Indonesia, in order for them to live and carry out their pastoral and apostolic activities with confidence and security."

"I chose the army because my father was an American soldier in France during World War I. I wasn't sorry to go in, I wanted to serve my country."

"Things won't always be harmonious - incidentally, they never have been. However, we must endeavour to achieve the greatest possible unity in the local church and the universal church, which is also the essence of the episcopal office. We must not give up the struggle for unity, despite all the disputes about factual issues and sensitivities that will always exist. We must not resign ourselves to falling out."

"Our wonderful story of pioneering religious women and men, who opened hundreds of schools in the outback should never be forgotten. Alongside the pioneering priests and bishops, they were the backbone of religious education for more than a century. Now disappearing from the school scene, they have left a major gap."

"The Church in Laos is not lacking in courage, since She relies on the promise of the Lord, who has promised to be with us always."

"We always like to think what our future will be, and that's hopefully heaven, but we just get in and do what you're called to do. If you're doing your normal ministry, if you’re serving God's people and getting involved in the life of the Church, then I suppose these callings can follow."

"Inculturation should have a sound theological and ethnological basis, beyond mere folklore. Marriage and family life are clearly an area of concern in this respect. We must look at African culture as it is today, an amalgam of tradition and modernity. The rapidly changing role of women shows that African society is not static, but dynamic and full of contradiction. A truly incultured faith will answer the need of our people for healing which they seek so often."

"It should give special emphasis to the border where two worlds meet, two worlds that only the Church can make one by leading them both to experience a true encounter with the living Jesus Christ, the way to conversion, communion and solidarity in America."

"The pallium is a symbol of union with the Holy See. Let's thank God for the Vatican's trust in the Timor-Leste Church. It's a symbol of unity and an invitation to remain faithful to Christ who died on the cross."

"Since freedom and authentic values are intimately connected with the identity of the person, it is comprehensible that obedience, if it is not considered in the liberating light of the Holy Spirit, is instead considered as a beginning of maturity of the person and their creative freedom."

"His circumstances were distant, cold. The Gulag was horrendous, the persecution and the environment was just awful. But bottom line, he believed in Jesus Christ. That was the foundational thing, his trust in Jesus Christ, even through all the things he underwent, all the persecution."

"We cannot hope to raise human persons with strong moral character if their education is not founded on faith in God. That is why the first missionaries in Uganda simultaneously built churches and schools. Where they failed to convert directly the elders, they eventually succeeded by converting the young generation through schools. In such cases, when the young people were evangelized and converted to Christianity, they in turn evangelized the elders."

"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."

"Where we see things that are not good for Venezuela because of our experience and our love for the country, we are going to speak up unashamedly because that is part of our mission."

"The Catholic Church in the Northern Lands - Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden - is a very small minority and therefore has neither the advantages nor the disadvantages that the Catholic Church often comes across in traditional and prevalently Catholic regions. Despite its limited relevance, numeric as well as social, our Church is nonetheless a growing Church."

"I consider that the fundamental desire of the peoples of America is to be able to live in peace. The Catholic Church, by its very nature, mission and commitment with the people of God who wander the face of this continent, cannot remain indifferent to this need felt by so many men and women among us suffering the scourge of violence. A Church which does not strive for peace, would not be the Church Christ founded."

"He was a generous and courageous pastor in announcing the Good News, he paid such a high price for his energetic defense of human life, his firm opposition to all kinds of violence, and his dedication to social development as rooted in the Gospel."

"The Episcopal Consecration ministered by the Principal Consecrator Bishop, Nuncio Apostolic and by the remainder of the Asian Consecrator Bishops, is not conferred by the world, but by the grace of God Our Lord."

"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."

"Not everything goes the way we would like it to, but we hope that one day, guided by the Holy Spirit, we will find ourselves fully united in Christ, according to His will."

"I do not want the nation's journalists to lose their courage in the face of recurring violence against the press."

""Inculturation", is inevitable in evangelization; otherwise, Christianity would always be a "foreign" religion for the people of Asia. The shedding of European cultural characteristics does not absolutely mean any separation with the Catholic Faith, since inculturation is promoted while firmly taking into account the Deposit of Faith."

"Poor victim, poor assassin, poor avenger. Poor is the society that created them. The young girl who succumbed to drugs, the young man who chopped her up, [and] the man who shot to avenge her, are three witnesses of a chain of failures that concern all of us."