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A Dictatorship Of Relativism Is Being Built That Recognizes Nothing As Definite, And Which Leaves As The Ultimate Measure Only One's Ego And Desires ... Having A Clear Faith, According To The Credo Of The Church, Is Often Labeled As Fundamentalism. Yet Relativism, That Is, Letting Oneself Being Carried 'here And There By Any Wind Of Doctrine,' Appears As The Sole Attitude Good Enough For Modern Times.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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A Dictatorship Of Relativism

Pope Benedict XVI

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A Dictatorship Of Relativism Is Being Built That Recognizes Nothing As Definite, And Which Leaves As The Ultimate Measure Only One's Ego And Desires ... Having A Clear Faith, According To The Credo Of The Church, Is Often Labeled As Fundamentalism. Yet Relativism, That Is, Letting Oneself Being Carried 'here And There By Any Wind Of Doctrine,' Appears As The Sole Attitude Good Enough For Modern Times.

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The Church Is Not A Political Power, Nor A Political Party, But Rather A Moral Reality, A Moral Force.

While Conscious Of The Challenges You Face, I Encourage You To Follow Faithfully In The Footsteps Of Your Founders, And To Stir Into Flame The Charisms And Apostolic Zeal Which You Have Inherited From Them, Confident That Christ Will Continue To Work With You And To Confirm Your Preaching With Signs Of His Presence And Power.

The Cross Reminds Us That There Is No True Love Without Suffering, There Is No Gift Of Life Without Pain.

Each Of Us Is The Result Of A Thought Of God. Each Of Us Is Willed. Each Of Us Is Loved. Each Of Us Is Necessary.

From The Point Of View Of The Christian Faith, Man Comes In The Profoundest Sense To Himself Not Through What He Does But Through What He Accepts. He Must Wait For The Gift Of Love, And Love Can Only Be Received As A Gift... One Must Wait For It, Let It Be Given To One. And One Cannot Become Wholly Man In Any Other Way Than By Being Loved, By Letting Oneself Be Loved... If He Declines To Let Himself Be Presented With The Gift, Then He Destroys Himself.

Sometimes Men And Women Prefer The Darkness To The Light Because They Are Attached To Their Sins. Nevertheless It Is Only By Opening Oneself To The Light And Only By Sincerely Confessing One's Sins To God That One Finds True Peace And True Joy. It Is Therefore Important To Receive The Sacrament Of Penance Regularly, Especially During Lent, In Order To Receive The Lord's Forgiveness And To Intensify Our Process Of Conversion.

Following Jesus In Faith Is To Walk With Him In The Communion Of The Church. You Cannot Follow Jesus Alone.

May You Always Experience The Joy That Comes From Putting Christ At The Centre Of Your Lives.

The Happiness You Have A Right To Enjoy Has A Name And A Face: It Is Jesus Of Nazareth, Hidden In The Eucharist.

Wherever Applause Breaks Out In The Liturgy Because Of Some Human Achievement, It Is A Sure Sign That The Essence Of Liturgy Has Totally Disappeared And Been Replaced By A Kind Of Religious Entertainment. Such Attraction Fades Quickly - It Cannot Compete In The Market Of Leisure Pursuits, Incorporating As It Increasingly Does Various Forms Of Religious Titillation.

In A Nuclear War There Would Be No Victors, Only Victims. The Truth Of Peace Requires That All ... Strive For A Progressive And Concerted Nuclear Disarmament.

Nuclear Disarmament

Love In Truth-caritas In Veritate-is A Great Challenge For The Church In A World That Is Becoming Progressively And Pervasively Globalized. The Risk For Our Time Is That The De Facto Interdependence Of People And Nations Is Not Matched By Ethical Interaction Of Consciences And Minds That Would Give Rise To Truly Human Development. Only In Charity, Illumined By The Light Of Reason And Faith, Is It Possible To Pursue Development Goals That Possess A More Humane And Humanizing Value.

...the Baptized In Their Sense Of Mission, Through Prayer, The Witness Of Life And Christian Commitment In All Its Forms, So That All The Faithful May Become Missionaries In The Places Where They Live And That Vocations Will Come Forth To Proclaim The Gospel To Men Who Do Not Yet Know It.

To Make A Concrete Response To The Appeal Of Our Brothers And Sisters In Humanity, We Must Come To Grips With The First Of These Challenges: Solidarity Among Generations, Solidarity Between Countries And Entire Continents, So That All Human Beings May Share More Equitably In The Riches Of Our Planet. This Is One Of The Essential Services That People Of Good Will Must Render To Humanity. The Earth, In Fact, Can Produce Enough To Nourish All Its Inhabitants, On The Condition That The Rich Countries Do Not Keep For Themselves What Belongs To All.

People From The World's Richest Countries Should Be Prepared To Accept The Burden Of Debt Reduction For Heavily Indebted Poor Countries, And Should Urge Their Leaders To Fulfill The Pledges Made To Reduce World Poverty, Especially In Africa, By The Year 2015.

The Capacity To Accept Suffering For The Sake Of Goodness, Truth And Justice Is An Essential Criterion Of Humanity, Because If My Own Well-being And Safety Are Ultimately More Important Than Truth And Justice, Then The Power Of The Stronger Prevails, Then Violence And Untruth Reigns Supreme.

For In This World, Marked By Sin, The Gravitational Pull Of Our Lives Is Weighted By The Chains Of The "i" And The "self." These Chains Must Be Broken To Free Us For A New Love That Places Us In Another Gravitational Field Where We Can Enter New Life.

Ultimately, In The Battle Against Lies And Violence, Truth And Love Have No Other Weapon Than The Witness Of Suffering.

Food Security Is An Authentically Human Requirement. Guaranteeing It For Present And Future Generations Also Means Safeguarding Ourselves Against The Uncontrolled Exploitation Of Natural Resources. Indeed, The Process Of Consumption And Waste Seems To Overlook Any Concern For ... Biodiversity, Which Is So Important For Agriculture.

I Am Convinced That Music Really Is The Universal Language Of Beauty Which Can Bring Together All People Of Good Will On Earth

Seeing With The Eyes Of Christ, I Can Give To Others Much More Than Their Outward Necessities; I Can Give Them The Look Of Love Which They Crave.

The Experience Of [the African] Bishops Is That Evangelization Itself Should Be Foremost, That The God Of Jesus Christ Must Be Known, Believed In And Loved, And That Hearts Must Be Converted If Progress Is To Be Made On Social Issues And Reconciliation Is To Begin, And If - For Example - Aids Is To Be Combated By Realistically Facing Its Deeper Causes And The Sick Are To Be Given The Loving Care They Need. Social Issues And The Gospel Are Inseparable.

Both Need Each Other: The Agnostic Cannot Be Content To Not Know, But Must Be In Search Of The Great Truth Of Faith; The Catholic Cannot Be Content To Have Faith, But Must Be In Search Of God All The Time, And In The Dialogue With Others, A Catholic Can Learn More About God In A Deeper Fashion.

Make Sure That Every Person, Of Whatever Background, Can Find In You A Welcoming Heart.

Knowing Is Not Simply A Material Act, Since The Object That Is Known Always Conceals Something Beyond The Empirical Datum. All Our Knowledge, Even The Most Simple, Is Always A Minor Miracle, Since It Can Never Be Fully Explained By The Material Instruments That We Apply To It. In Every Truth There Is Something More Than We Would Have Expected, In The Love That We Receive There Is Always An Element That Surprises Us.

The Aim Of All Christian Education, Moreover, Is To Train The Believer In An Adult Faith That Can Make Him A "new Creation", Capable Of Bearing Witness In His Surroundings To The Christian Hope That Inspires Him.

We Will Never Forget That Blessing. It Was The Most Pained And Moving Blessing, Which Left Us With The Extreme Testimony Of His Will To Complete His Ministry Until The End.

Today, Having A Clear Faith Based On The Creed Of The Church Is Often Labeled Today As Fundamentalism. Whereas Relativism, That Is, Letting Oneself Be "tossed Here And There, Carried About By Every Wind Of Doctrine," Seems The Only Attitude That Can Cope With Modern Times.

Prayer, As A Means Of Drawing Ever New Strength From Christ, Is Concretely And Urgently Needed.

Sometimes We Are Looked Upon As People Who Speak Only Of Prohibitions. Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth! Authentic Christian Discipleship Is Marked By A Sense Of Wonder. We Stand Before The God We Know And Love As A Friend, The Vastness Of His Creation, And The Beauty Of Our Christian Faith.

Can Man, The Finite And Sinful One, Cooperate With God, The Infinite And Holy One? Yes, He Can, Precisely Because God Himself Has Become Man, Become Body, And Here (in The Liturgy), Again And Again, He Comes Through His Body To Us Who Live In The Body.

The Highest Things, The Things That Really Matter, We Cannot Achieve On Our Own; We Have To Accept Them As Gifts And Enter In To The Dynamic Of The Gift, So To Speak.

Apostolic And Missionary Fruitfulness Is Not Principally Due To Programmes And Pastoral Methods That Are Cleverly Drawn Up And "efficient", But Is The Result Of The Community's Constant Prayer (cf. "evangelii Nuntiandi," 75). Moreover, For The Mission To Be Effective, Communities Must Be United, That Is, They Must Be "of One Heart And Soul" (cf. Acts 4:32), And They Must Be Ready To Witness To The Love And Joy That The Holy Spirit Instils In The Hearts Of The Faithful (cf. Acts 4:32).

The Wrath Of God Is A Way Of Saying That I Have Been Living In A Way That Is Contrary To The Love That Is God. Anyone Who Begins To Live And Grow Away From God, Who Lives Away From What Is Good, Is Turning His Life Toward Wrath.

Art And The Saints Are The Greatest Apologetics For Our Faith.

Young People In Particular, I Appeal To You: Bear Witness To Your Faith Through The Digital World!....employ These New Technologies To Make The Gospel Known, So That The Good News Of God's Infinite Love For All People, Will Resound In New Ways Across Our Increasingly Technological World!

Today We Have To Learn All Over Again That Love For The Sinner And Love For The Person Who Has Been Harmed Are Correctly Balanced If I Punish The Sinner In The Form That Is Possible And Appropriate. In This Respect There Was In The Past A Change Of Mentality, In Which The Law And The Need For Punishment Were Obscured. Ultimately This Also Narrowed The Concept Of Law, Which In Fact Is Not Only Just Being Nice Or Courteous, But Is Found In The Truth. And Another Component Of The Truth Is That I Must Punish The One Who Has Sinned Against Real Love

Without The Eucharist, The Church Simply Does Not Exist.

The Church Does Not Invent Sins But Recognizes The Will Of God And Has To Declare It. Of Course, The Great Thing.. Is That Upon The Church, Which Has To Declare The Will Of God In Its Full Magnitude, In Its Unconditional Rigor, So That Man Should Know His True Measure, Is Bestowed As A Gift, At The Same Time, The Task Of Forgiving.

In The Desert We Rediscover The Value Of What Is Essential For Living; Thus In Today's World There Are Innumerable Signs, Often Expressed Implicitly Or Negatively, Of The Thirst For God, For The Ultimate Meaning Of Life. And In The Desert People Of Faith Are Needed Who, By The Example Of Their Own Lives, Point Out The Way To The Promised Land And Keep Hope Alive.

Our Christian Conviction Is That Christ Is Also The Messiah Of Israel. Certainly It Is In The Hands Of God How And When The Unification Of Jews And Christians Into The People Of God Will Take Place.

It Is Rational To Believe, As It Is Our Very Existence That Is At Stake.

God No Longer Simply Stands Before Us As The One Who Is Totally Other. He Is Within Us, And We Are In Him. His Dynamic Enters Into Us And Then Seeks To Spread Outward To Others Until It Fills The World, So That His Love Can Truly Become The Dominant Measure Of The World.

May We Be Enlightened By A Ray Of The Light That Comes From Bethlehem, The Light Of He Who Is 'the Greatest' And Made Himself Small.

God Came Into The World To Reawaken The Thirst For Great Things In Us.

Do You Want To Know Yourself Better? Then Discover Silence.

Saint Paul Asks His Disciple Timothy To "aim At Faith" (2 Tim 2:22) With The Same Constancy As When He Was A Boy (cf. 2 Tim 3:15). This Invitation Is Directed To Each Of Us, That None Of Us Grow Lazy In The Faith. It Is The Lifelong Companion That Makes It Possible To Perceive, Ever Anew, The Marvels That God Works For Us.

To Some Extent, This Urge To Break Out Of The Ordinary Is Present In Every Generation. Part Of Being Young Is Desiring Something Beyond Everyday Life And A Secure Job, A Yearning For Something Really Truly Greater. Is This Simply An Empty Dream That Fades Away As We Become Older? No! Men And Women Were Created For Something Great, For Infinity. Nothing Else Will Ever Be Enough.

Purgatory Basically Means That God Can Put The Pieces Back Together Again. That He Can Cleanse Us In Such A Way That We Are Able To Be With Him And Can Stand There In The Fullness Of Life. Purgatory Strips Off From One Person What Is Unbearable And From Another The Inability To Bear Certain Things, So That In Each Of Them A Pure Heart Is Revealed, And We Can See That We All Belong Together In One Enormous Symphony Of Being.

Fullness Of Life

The State Which Would Provide Everything, Absorbing Everything Into Itself, Would Ultimately Become A Mere Bureaucracy Incapable Of Guaranteeing The Very Thing Which The Suffering Person—every Person—needs: Namely, Loving Personal Concern. We Do Not Need A State Which Regulates And Controls Everything, But A State Which, In Accordance With The Principle Of Subsidiarity, Generously Acknowledges And Supports Initiatives Arising From The Different Social Forces And Combines Spontaneity With Closeness To Those In Need. The Church Is One Of Those Living Forces.

Children Truly Are The Family's Greatest Treasure And Most Precious Good. Consequently, Everyone Must Be Helped To Become Aware Of The Intrinsic Evil Of The Crime Of Abortion. In Attacking Human Life In Its Very First Stages, It Is Also An Aggression Against Society Itself. Politicians And Legislators, Therefore, As Servants Of The Common Good, Are Duty Bound To Defend The Fundamental Right To Life, The Fruit Of God's Love.

Greatest Treasure

The Essence Of Christianity...is An Ever-new Encounter With... The God Who Speaks To Us, Who Approaches Us And Who Befriends Us!

The Fundamental Human Right, The Presupposition Of Every Other Right, Is The Right To Life Itself. This Is True Of Life From The Moment Of Conception Until Its Natural End. Abortion, Consequently, Cannot Be A Human Right – It Is The Very Opposite. It Is “a Deep Wound In Society”.

The Church Is Not An Association That Wishes To Promote A Certain Cause. It Is Not About A Cause. It Is About The Person Of Jesus Christ.

Jesus, The Word Incarnate, Is Always The Center Of Our Announcement, The Point Of Reference For Our Evangelizing Mission And For Its Methodology, Because He Is The Human Face Of God, Who Wishes To Meet All Men And Women So As To Bring Them Into Communion With Him, In His Love.

The Relationship Between Individuals Or Communities And The Environment Ultimately Stems From Their Relationship With God. When ‘man Turns His Back On The Creator’s Plan, He Provokes A Disorder Which Has Inevitable Repercussions On The Rest Of The Created Order.

Truth Is Not Determined By A Majority Vote.

Faith Is Above All A Personal, Intimate Encounter With Jesus, And To Experience [his] Closeness, [his] Friendship, [his] Love; Only In This Way Does One Learn To Know [him] Ever More, And To Love And Follow [him] Ever More. May This Happen To Each One Of Us.

Civilization Is Now Under The Tyranny Of Relativism.

In A World Where There Is So Much Noise, So Much Bewilderment, There Is A Need For Silent Adoration Of Jesus Concealed In The Host. Be Assiduous In The Prayer Of Adoration And Teach It To The Faithful. It Is A Source Of Comfort And Light, Particularly To Those Who Are Suffering.

Rediscover The Joy Of Believing.

For More Than 160 Years, Through The Initiative Of The French Bishop Charles De Forbin Janson, The Childhood Of Jesus Has Become The Icon For The Commitment Of Christian Children Who Help The Church In Her Task Of Evangelization By Prayer, Sacrifice And Gestures Of Solidarity....thousands Of Children Meet The Needs Of Other Children, Driven By The Love That The Son Of God, Become A Child, Brought To The Earth. I Say Thanks To These Little Ones And I Pray That They Will Always Be Missionaries.

Preservation Of The Environment, Promotion Of Sustainable Development And Particular Attention To Climate Change Are Matters Of Grave Concern For The Entire Human Family. No Nation Or Business Sector Can Ignore The Ethical Implications Present In All Economic And Social Development. With Increasing Clarity Scientific Research Demonstrates That The Impact Of Human Actions In Any One Place Or Region Can Have Worldwide Effects.

Dear Young People, The Church Depends On You! She Needs Your Lively Faith, Your Creative Charity And The Energy Of Your Hope. Your Presence Renews, Rejuvenates And Gives New Energy To The Church.

[non-catholic Christians Are] In A Gravely Deficient Situation In Comparison With Those Who, In The [roman Catholic] Church, Have The Fullness Of The Means Of Salvation.

Each Of Us Has A Mission . . . Each Of Us Is Called To Change The World, To Work For A Culture Of Life, A Culture Forged By Love And Respect For The Dignity Of Each Human Person.

Rock Music Is A Vehicle Of Anti-religion

During The Season Of Lent Which Begins Today, We Renew Our Commitment To The Path Of Conversion, Making More Room For God In Our Lives.

Friends, Do Not Be Afraid Of Silence Or Stillness. Listen To God. Adore Him In The Eucharist.

The Earth Is Indeed A Precious Gift Of The Creator Who, In Designing Its Intrinsic Order, Has Given Us Bearings That Guide Us As Stewards Of His Creation. Precisely From Within This Framework, The Church Considers Matters Concerning The Environment And Its Protection Intimately Linked To The Theme Of Integral Human Development.

For Each One Of You, As For The Apostles, The Encounter With The Divine Teacher Who Calls You Friends May Be The Beginning Of An Extraordinary Venture: That Of Becoming Apostles Among Your Contemporaries To Lead Them To Live Their Own Experience Of Friendship With God, Made Man, With God Who Has Made Himself My Friend.

Humanity Today Is Rightly Concerned About The Ecological Balance Of Tomorrow. It Is Important For Assessments In This Regard To Be Carried Out Prudently, In Dialogue With Experts And People Of Wisdom, Uninhibited By Ideological Pressure To Draw Hasty Conclusions, And Above All With The Aim Of Reaching Agreement On A Model Of Sustainable Development Capable Of Ensuring The Well-being Of All While Respecting Environmental Balances.

I, Retired In Prayer, Will Always Be With You, And Together We Will Move Ahead With The Lord In Certainty. The Lord Is Victorious.

Evil Draws Its Power From Indecision And Concern For What Other People Think.

In The World In Which We Live, It Is Almost A Necessity To Be Able To Regain One's Strength Of Body And Spirit, Especially For Those Who Live In The City, Where The Conditions Of Life, Often Feverish, Leave Little Room For Silence, Reflection And Relaxed Contact With Nature.

We Ask The Blessed Virgin For The Gift Of Conversion For All Christians, So That They May Announce And Give A Faithful And Coherent Witness To The Perennial Evangelical Message, Which Indicates To Humanity The Path To An Authentic Peace.

Thank You From The Heart To All Those Who In Various Ways Are Near Me Or Follow Me Spiritually With Affection And Prayers From Afar. To Each One Of You, I Ask You To Continue To Support Me By Praying To God To Let Me Be His Gentle And Firm Pastor Of His Church.

We Are Moving Toward A Dictatorship Of Relativism Which Does Not Recognize Anything As For Certain And Which Has As Its Highest Goal One's Own Ego And One's Own Desires.

Our First Experience Of God Is So Important, We Either Experience Him As The Police Guard That Wants To Punish Or As Creative Love That Awaits.

If Jesus Has Become Your Hope, Communicate This To Others With Your Joy And Your Spiritual, Apostolic And Social Engagement. Let Christ Dwell Within You, And Having Placed All Your Faith And Trust In Him, Spread This Hope Around You. Make Choices That Demonstrate Your Faith.

Art Means: Revealing God In Everything That Exists.

Mission Is A Workshop Where There Is Room For All.

Christianity Is Not A New Philosophy Or New Morality. We Are Christians Only If We Encounter Christ... Only In This Personal Relationship With Christ, Only In This Encounter With The Risen One Do We Really Become Christians... Therefore, Let Us Pray To The Lord To Enlighten Us, So That, In Our World, He Will Grant Us The Encounter With His Presence, And Thus Give Us A Lively Faith, An Open Heart, And Great Charity For All, Capable Of Renewing The World.

The One And Only Gospel Waits To Be Proclaimed By Everyone Together, In Love And Reciprocal Esteem.

Popular Piety Is One Of Our Strengths Because It Consists Of Prayers Deeply Rooted In People's Hearts. These Prayers Even Move The Hearts Of People Who Are Somewhat Cut Off From The Life Of The Church And Who Have No Special Understanding Of Faith. All That Is Required Is To 'illuminate' These Actions And 'purify' This Tradition So That It May Become Part Of The Life Of The Church Today.

Lifting One's Gaze To The Living God, The Guarantor Of Our Freedom And Of Truth, Is A Premise For Arriving At A New Humanity. Nowadays, In A Special Way, The World Needs People Capable Of Proclaiming And Bearing Witness To God Who Is Love, And Consequently The One Light Which In The End, Illumines The Darkness Of The World And Gives Us Strength To Live And Work

[the Atheist Believes] A World Marked By So Much Injustice, Innocent Suffering, And Cynicism Of Power Cannot Be The Work Of A Good God.

The Cross Is The Approbation Of Our Existence, Not In Words, But In An Act So Completely Radical That It Caused God To Become Flesh And Pierced This Flesh To The Quick; That, To God, It Was Worth The Death Of His Incarnate Son.

The Catechism Was Not Written To Please You. It Will Not Make Life Easy For You, Because It Demands Of You A New Life.

How Much We Need, In The Church And In Society, Witnesses Of The Beauty Of Holiness, Witnesses Of The Splendour Of Truth, Witnesses Of The Joy And Freedom Born Of A Living Relationship With Christ!

Every Human Life Is Precious In God's Sight And No Effort Should Be Spared In The Attempt To Promote Throughout The World A Genuine Respect For The Inalienable Rights And Dignity Of Individuals And Peoples Everywhere.

In Latin America In General, It's Very Important That Christianity Not Be Simply A Thing Of Reason, But Also Of The Heart.

The Fundamental Task Of The Evangelization Of Culture Is The Challenge To Make God Visible In The Human Face Of Jesus.

The Twelve Apostles Are The Most Evident Sign Of Jesus' Will Regarding The Existence And Mission Of His Church, The Guarantee That Between Christ And The Church There Is No Opposition: Despite The Sins Of The People Who Make Up The Church, They Are Inseparable. Therefore, A Slogan That Was Popular Some Years Back, 'jesus Yes, Church No,' Is Totally Inconceivable With The Intention Of Christ. This Individualistically Chosen Jesus Is An Imaginary Jesus.

Guarantees That

The Current Economic Crisis...has Numerous Causes And Sends A Powerful Message About The Need For A Profound Revision Of The Model Of Global Economic Development. It's An Acute Symptom That Is Added To Other More Grave And Already Well-known Ones, Such As The Continued Imbalance Between Wealth And Poverty, The Scandal Of Hunger, The Ecological Emergency And The Problem Of Unemployment, Which Has Now Become General. In This Context A Strategic Re-launching Of Agriculture Appears Decisive.

The Language Of Art Is A 'parabolic' Language, With A Special Openness To The Universal: The 'way Of Beauty' Is A Way Capable Of Leading The Mind And Heart To The Lord, To Elevate Them To The Heights Of God.

That The Entire People Of God, To Whom Christ Entrusted The Mandate To Go And Preach The Gospel To Every Creature, May Eagerly Assume Their Own Missionary Responsibility And Consider It The Highest Service They Can Offer Humanity.

The Missionary Experience Is Part Of Christian Formation And It Is Important For Adolescents And Young People To Be Able To Live It Personally.

It Was Easy To Know The Doctrine. It's Much Harder To Help A Billion People Live It.

Eternity Is Not An Unending Succession Of Days In The Calendar, But Something More Like The Supreme Moment Of Satisfaction, In Which Totality Embraces Us And We Embrace Totality.

Over The Pope As Expression Of The Binding Claim Of Ecclesiastical Authority, There Stands One's Own Conscience Which Must Be Obeyed Before All Else, Even If Necessary Against The Requirement Of Ecclesiastical Authority.

From Earliest Times, Water Has Always Been Acknowledged As A Primary Human Good And An Indispensable Natural Resource. Around The Great Rivers Of The World, Like The Mississippi, Great Cultures Have Developed, While Over The Course Of The Centuries The Prosperity Of Countless Societies Has Been Linked To These Waterways. Today, However, The Great Fluvial Systems Of Every Continent Are Exposed To Serious Threats, Often As A Result Of Man's Activity And Decisions.

Only From God Does True Revolution Come... The Definitive Way To Change The World.

Everything Is A Gift From God: It Is Only By Recognizing This Crucial Dependence On The Creator That We Will Find Freedom And Peace.

Not All Moral Issues Have The Same Moral Weight As Abortion And Euthanasia. There May Be Legitimate Diversity Of Opinion Even Among Catholics About Waging War And Applying The Death Penalty, But Not... With Regard To Abortion And Euthanasia.

Reason Always Stands In Need Of Being Purified By Faith

Adoration Outside Holy Mass Prolongs And Intensifies What Has Taken Place In The Liturgical Celebration And Makes A True And Profound Reception Of Christ Possible. I . . . Warmly Recommend, To Pastors And To All The Faithful, The Practice Of Eucharistic Adoration

[evangelization] Is Not Something Optional, But The Very Vocation Of The People Of God, A Duty That Corresponds To It By The Command Of The Lord Jesus Christ Himself

The More Administrative Machinery We Construct, Be It The Most Modern, The Less Place There Is For The Spirit, The Less Place There Is For The Lord, And The Less Freedom There Is. It Is My Opinion That We Ought To Begin An Unsparing Examination Of Conscience On This Point At All Levels In The Church.

In The Pierced Heart Of The Crucified, God's Own Heart Is Opened Up - Here We See Who God Is And What He Is Like. Heaven Is No Longer Locked Up. God Has Stepped Out Of His Hiddenness.

Continue To Walk In The Faith And, Faithful To The Mandate That Has Been Entrusted To You, Go Out With Solicitude And Joy Toward All Creatures And Pass On To Them The Gifts Of Salvation...let Yourselves Be Guided By The Holy Spirit To Be The Leaven Of New Life, Salt Of The Earth And Light Of The World.

I Say To You Dear Young People: Do Not Be Afraid Of Christ! He Takes Nothing Away, And He Gives You Verything. When We Give Ourselves To Him, We Receive A Hundredfold In Return. Yes, Open, Open Wide The Doors To Christ And You Will Find True Life.

A Dictatorship Of Relativism Is Being Built That Recognizes Nothing As Definite, And Which Leaves As The Ultimate Measure Only One's Ego And Desires ... Having A Clear Faith, According To The Credo Of The Church, Is Often Labeled As Fundamentalism. Yet Relativism, That Is, Letting Oneself Being Carried 'here And There By Any Wind Of Doctrine,' Appears As The Sole Attitude Good Enough For Modern Times.

At The Judgment, In Response To Our Questions, The Lord Will Show Us His Wounds, And We Will Understand. In The Meantime, However, He Simply Expects Us To Stand By Him And To Believe What These Wounds Tell Us, Even Though We Cannot Work Right Through The Logic Of This World.

An Authentically Eucharistic Church Is A Missionary Church... Truly, Nothing Is More Beautiful Than To Know Christ And To Make Him Known To Others.

One Doesn't Begin To Be A Christian Because Of An Ethical Decision Or A Great Idea, But Rather Because Of An Encounter With An Event, With A Person, Who Gives New Horizons To Life, And With That, A Decisive Orientation.

It Is Necessary Not Only To Relieve The Gravest Needs But To Go To Their Roots, Proposing Measures That Will Give Social, Political And Economic Structures A More Equitable And Solidaristic Configuration.

In The Face Of Horror ... There Is No Other Answer Than The Cross Of Christ: Love That Descends To The Abyss Of Evil.

When Politicians Presume To Do God's Work, They Do Not Become Divine But Diabolical.

Nature Expresses A Design Of Love And Truth.

Do Not Be Fooled By Those Who See You As Just Another Consumer In A Market Of Undifferentiated Possibilities, Where Choice Itself Becomes The Good, Novelty Usurps Beauty, And Subjective Experience Displaces Truth.

The Ecclesial Communities Which Have Not Preserved The Valid Episcopate And The Genuine And Integral Substance Of The Eucharistic Mystery, Are Not Churches In The Proper Sense; However, Those Who Are Baptized In These Communities Are, By Baptism, Incorporated In Christ And Thus Are In A Certain Communion, Albeit Imperfect, With The Church.

What Is Capable Of Restoring Enthusiasm And Confidence, What Can Encourage The Human Spirit To Rediscover Its Path, To Raise Its Eyes To The Horizon, To Dream Of A Life Worthy Of Its Vocation - If Not Beauty?

There Is Nothing More Beautiful Than To Be Surprised By The Gospel, By The Encounter With Christ. There Is Nothing More Beautiful Than To Know Him And To Speak To Others Of Our Friendship With Him.

The Freedom To Kill Is Not A True Freedom, But A Tyranny That Reduces Human Beings To Slavery.

God's Heart Calls To Our Hearts, Inviting Us To Come Out Of Ourselves, To Forsake Our Human Certainties, To Trust In Him And, By Following His Example, To Make Ourselves A Gift Of Unbounded Love.

Violence Against Even One Human Being Is Violence Against All.

It Is True That The Muslim World Is Not Totally Mistaken When It Reproaches The West Of Christian Tradition Of Moral Decadence And The Manipulation Of Human Life. ... Islam Has Also Had Moments Of Great Splendor And Decadence In The Course Of Its History.

The Proclamation And Witness Of The Gospel Are The First Service That Christians Can Offer Every Person And The Whole Human Race, As They Are Called To Communicate To All The Love Of God, Who Manifested Himself Fully In The Only Redeemer Of The World, Jesus Christ.

Men And Women Were Created For Something Great, For Infinity. Nothing Else Will Ever Be Enough.

Discovering The Beauty And Joy Of Faith Is A Path That Every New Generation Must Take On Its Own.

Dear Young People, The Happiness You Are Seeking, The Happiness You Have A Right To Enjoy Has A Name And A Face: It Is Jesus Of Nazareth, Hidden In The Eucharist. Only He Gives The Fullness Of Life To Humanity! With Mary, Say Your Own "yes" To God, For He Wishes To Give Himself To You.

Fullness Of Life

Material Possessions, In Themselves, Are Good. We Would Not Survive For Long Without Money, Clothing And Shelter. We Must Eat In Order To Stay Alive. Yet If We Are Greedy, If We Refuse To Share What We Have With The Hungry And The Poor, Then We Make Our Possessions Into A False God. How Many Voices In Our Materialist Society Tell Us That Happiness Is To Be Found By Acquiring As Many Possessions And Luxuries As We Can! But This Is To Make Possessions Into A False God. Instead Of Bringing Life, They Bring Death.

I Have A Mustard Seed; And I Am Not Afraid To Use It.

Lent Is Like A Long 'retreat' During Which We Can Turn Back Into Ourselves And Listen To The Voice Of God, In Order To Defeat The Temptations Of The Evil One. It Is A Period Of Spiritual 'combat' Which We Must Experience Alongside Jesus, Not With Pride And Presumption, But Using The Arms Of Faith: Prayer, Listening To The Word Of God And Penance. In This Way We Will Be Able To Celebrate Easter In Truth, Ready To Renew The Promises Of Our Baptism.

We Live Our Lives By Philosophies, Amid Worldly Affairs And Occupations That Totally Absorb Us And Are A Great Distance From The Manger. In All Kinds Of Ways, God Has To Prod Us And Reach Out To Us Again And Again, So That We Can Manage To Escape From The Muddle Of Our Thoughts And Activities And Discover The Way That Leads To Him. But A Path Exists For All Of Us. The Lord Provides Everyone With Tailor-made Signals.

Silence 'is So Lacking In This World Which Is Often Too Noisy, Which Is Not Favorable To Recollection And Listening To The Voice Of God. In This Time Of Preparation For Christmas, Let Us Cultivate Interior Recollection So As To Receive And Keep Jesus In Our Lives.'

Dear Friends, May No Adversity Paralyze You. Be Afraid Neither Of The World, Nor Of The Future, Nor Of Your Weakness. The Lord Has Allowed You To Live In This Moment Of History So That, By Your Faith, His Name Will Continue To Resound Throughout The World.

Non-african Missionaries, Responding Generously To The Lord's Call With Ardent Apostolic Zeal, Came To Share The Joy Of Revelation. Following In Their Footsteps, Africans Are Today Missionaries On Other Continents.

Liberty Isn't Liberalism, Arbitrariness, But It's Connected; It's Conditioned By The Great Values Of Love And Solidarity And In General By The Good.

The Destruction Of Images, The First Signs Of Which Reach Back To The 1920s, Eliminated A Lot Of Kitsch And Unworthy Art, But Ultimately It Left Behind A Void.

Anyone Who Knows He Is Loved Is In Turn Prompted To Love. It Is The Lord Himself, Who Loved Us First, Who Asks Us To Place At The Center Of Our Lives Love For Him And For The People He Has Loved. It Is Especially Adolescents And Young People, Who Feel Within Them The Pressing Call To Love, Who Need To Be Freed From The Widespread Prejudice That Christianity, With Its Commandments And Prohibitions, Sets Too Many Obstacles In The Path Of The Joy Of Love And, In Particular Prevents People From Fully Enjoying The Happiness That Men And Women Find In Their Love For One Another.

The Catholic Community Must Offer Support To Those Women Who May Find It Difficult To Accept A Child, Above All When They Are Isolated From Their Family And Friends. Likewise, The Community Should Be Open To Welcome Back All Who Repent Of Having Participated In The Grave Sin Of Abortion, And Should Guide Them With Pastoral Charity To Accept The Grace Of Forgiveness, The Need For Penance, And The Joy Of Entering Once More Into The New Life Of Christ.

Because The Truth Of God Is Love, Conversion To God Is Conversion To Love.

Christ Had A Specific Evangelizing Goal In Mind When He Prayed At The Last Supper That All His Disciples 'be One...'the Church's Evangelizing Mission, Therefore, Moves Along The Path Of Ecumenism, The Path Of Unity Of Faith, Of Evangelical Witness And Authentic Fraternity.

A World Filled With Temptations Needs Priests Who Are Totally Dedicated To Their Mission. Accordingly, They Are Asked In A Very Special Way To Open Themselves Fully To Serving Others As Christ Did By Embracing The Gift Of Celibacy.

We Can Fall, But In The End We Fall Into God's Hands, And God's Hands Are Good Hands.

For Me, It's A Great Joy To Be Together With Priests: In The End, The Bishop Of Rome Is The Bishop And Brother Of All Priests. His Mandate Is To Confirm The Brothers In The Faith.

A Catholic Would Be Guilty Of Formal Cooperation In Evil, And So Unworthy To Present Himself For Holy Communion, If He Were To Deliberately Vote For A Candidate Precisely Because Of The Candidate's Permissive Stand On Abortion And/or Euthanasia.

Those Who Allow Themselves To Be Led By The Spirit Understand That Placing Oneself At The Service Of The Gospel Is Not An Optional Extra, Because They Are Aware Of The Urgency Of Transmitting This Good News To Others...i Assure You That The Spirit Of Jesus Today Is Inviting You Young People To Be Bearers Of The Good News Of Jesus To Your Contemporaries.

The Life Of The Community, Both Domestically And Internationally, Clearly Demonstrates That Respect For Rights, And The Guarantees That Follow From Them, Are Measures Of The Common Good That Serve To Evaluate The Relationship Between Justice And Injustice, Development And Poverty, Security And Conflict.

Guarantees That

Only In Truth Does Charity Shine Forth, Only In Truth Can Charity Be Authentically Lived. Truth Is The Light That Gives Meaning And Value To Charity. That Light Is Both The Light Of Reason And The Light Of Faith, Through Which The Intellect Attains To The Natural And Supernatural Truth Of Charity: It Grasps Its Meaning As Gift, Acceptance, And Communion. Without Truth, Charity Degenerates Into Sentimentality. Love Becomes An Empty Shell, To Be Filled In An Arbitrary Way.

In Jesus Christ, God Took On A Human Face And Became Our Friend And Brother.

Authentic Love Is Obviously Something Good... When We Love, We Become Most Fully Ourselves, Most Fully Human... People Often Think They Are Being Loving When Actually They Are Being Possessive Or Manipulative. People Sometimes Treat Others As Objects To Satisfy Their Own Needs... How Easy It Is To Be Deceived By The Many Voices In Our Society That Advocate A Permissive Approach To Sexuality, Without Regard For Modesty, Self-respect Or The Moral Values That Bring Quality To Human Relationships! This Is Worship Of A False God. Instead Of Bringing Life, It Brings Death.

I Believe That In A Certain Way This Is Proof Of The Truth Of Christianity: Heart And Reason Encounter One Another, Beauty And Truth Converge, And The More That We Ourselves Succeed In Living In The Beauty Of Truth, The More That Faith Will Be Able To Return To Being Creative In Our Time Too, And To Express Itself In A Convincing Form Of Art.

While The Church Exhorts Civil Authorities To Seek Peace, Not War, And To Exercise Discretion And Mercy In Imposing Punishment On Criminals, It May Still Be Permissible To Take Up Arms To Repel An Aggressor Or To Have Recourse To Capital Punishment. There May Be A Legitimate Diversity Of Opinion Even Among Catholics About Waging War And Applying The Death Penalty, But Not However With Regard To Abortion And Euthanasia.

We Cannot Keep To Ourselves The Words Of Eternal Life Given To Us In Our Encounter With Jesus Christ: They Are Meant For Everyone, For Every Man And Woman. ... It Is Our Responsibility To Pass On What, By God's Grace, We Ourselves Have Received.

Their Example Testifies That Baptism Commits Christians To Participating Courageously In The Spreading Of The Kingdom Of God, If Need Be Cooperating With The Sacrifice Of Life Itself... This Martyrdom Of Ordinary Life Constitutes A Particularly Important Witness In The Secularized Society Of Our Time. It Is The Peaceful Battle Of Love Which Every Christian, Like Paul, Must Fight Without Flagging: The Race To Spread The Gospel That Involves Us Until Our Death. May The Virgin Mary, Queen Of Martyrs And Star Of Evangelization, Help Us In Our Daily Witness.

Faith Was Intended Precisely For The Simple, But The Quest For Certainty And Simplicity Becomes Dangerous When It Leads To Fanaticism And Narrow-mindedness. When Reason As Such Becomes Suspect, Then Faith Itself Becomes Falsified.

When, In Adoration, We Look At The Consecrated Host, The Sign Of Creation Speaks To Us. And So, We Encounter The Greatness Of His Gift; But We Also Encounter The Passion, The Cross Of Jesus And His Resurrection. Through This Gaze Of Adoration, He Draws Us Toward Himself, Within His Mystery, Through Which He Wants To Transform Us As He Transformed The Host.

God Is Always Faithful To His Promises, But He Often Surprises Us In The Way He Fulfills Them.

I Am Simply A Pilgrim Beginning The Last Leg Of His Pilgrimage On This Earth.

We Live In A Society In Which It Seems That Every Space, Every Moment Must Be 'filled' With Initiatives, Activity, Sound; Often There Is Not Even Time To Listen And Dialogue... Let Us Not Be Afraid To Be Silent Outside And Inside Ourselves, So That We Are Able Not Only To Perceive God's Voice, But Also The Voice Of The Person Next To Us, The Voices Of Others.

The Story Of Mary Of Magdalene Reminds Us All Of A Fundamental Truth...a Disciple Of Christ Is One Who, In The Experience Of Human Weakness, Has Had The Humility To Ask For His Help, Has Been Healed By Him And Has Set Out Following Closely After Him, Becoming A Witness Of The Power Of His Merciful Love That Is Stronger Than Sin And Death.

Everyone Should Educate Themselves In More Wise And Responsible Consumption; Promote Personal Responsibility, Along With The Social Dimension Of Rural Activities, Which Are Based On Perennial Values, Such As Hospitality, Solidarity, And The Sharing Of The Toil Of Labor.

We Are No Longer Able To Hear God - There Are Too Many Frequencies Filling Our Ears.

Anyone Who Has Discovered Christ Must Lead Others To Him. A Great Joy Cannot Be Kept To Oneself. It Has To Be Passed On.

The New Pope Knows That His Task Is To Make The Light Of Christ Shine Before Men And Women Of World - Not His Own Light, But That Of Christ.

The Church Is Missionary By Nature And Her Principal Task Is Evangelization, Which Aims To Proclaim And To Witness To Christ And To Promote His Gospel Of Peace And Love In Every Environment And Culture.

Each One Of Us Needs Time And Space For Recollection, Meditation And Calmness.... Thanks Be To God That This Is So! In Fact, This Need Tells Us That We Are Not Made For Work Alone, But Also To Think, To Reflect Or Even Simply To Follow With Our Minds And Our Hearts A Tale, A Story In Which To Immerse Ourselves, In A Certain Sense To Lose Ourselves To Find Ourselves Subsequently Enriched.

Experience Shows That Disregard For The Environment Always Harms Human Coexistence, And Vice Versa. It Becomes More And More Evident That There Is An Inseparable Link Between Peace With Creation And Peace Among Men.

One Of The Promising Indications Of A Renewal In The Church's Missionary Consciousness In Recent Decades, Has Been The Growing Desire Of Many Lay Men And Women [...] To Cooperate Generously In The 'missio Ad Gentes.' As Vatican Council Ii Stressed, The Work Of Evangelization Is A Fundamental Duty Incumbent Upon The Whole People Of God.

Enough With The Slaughters. Enough With The Violence. Enough With The Hatred In Iraq!

A United Humanity Will Be Able To Confront The Many Troubling Problems Of The Present Time: From The Menace Of Terrorism To The Humiliating Poverty In Which Millions Of Human Beings Live, From The Proliferation Of Weapons To The Pandemics And The Environmental Destruction Which Threatens The Future Of Our Planet.

Lent Stimulates Us To Let The Word Of God Penetrate Our Life And In This Way To Know The Fundamental Truth: Who We Are, Where We Come From, Where We Must Go, What Path We Must Take In Life.

There May Be A Basis In The Case Of Some Individuals, As Perhaps When A Male Prostitute Uses A Condom, Where This Can Be A First Step In The Direction Of A Moralisation, A First Assumption Of Responsibility...

The Cardinals Have Elected Me, A Simple And Humble Labourer In The Vineyard Of The Lord. The Fact That The Lord Knows How To Work And To Act Even With Inadequate Instruments Comforts Me, And Above All I Entrust Myself To Your Prayers.

Forgiveness Is Not Substitute For Justice.

God Is Not Solitude, But Perfect Communion. For This Reason The Human Person, The Image Of God, Realizes Himself Or Herself In Love, Which Is A Sincere Gift Of Self.

Dear Young People, Do Not Be Satisfied With Anything Less Than Truth And Love, Do Not Be Content With Anything Less Than Christ

Music, Great Music, Distends The Spirit, Arouses Profound Emotions And Almost Naturally Invites Us To Raise Our Minds And Hearts To God In All Situations Of Human Existence, The Joyful And The Sad. Music Can Become Prayer.

Which Direction Do We Take? The One Prompted By The Passions Or The One Indicated By The Star Which Shines In Your Conscience? The Magi Heard The Answer: "in Bethlehem Of Judea; For So It Is Written By The Prophet" (mt 2: 5), And, Enlightened By These Words, They Chose To Press Forward To The Very End.

I'm Not A Man Who Constantly Thinks Up Jokes. But I Think It's Very Important To Be Able To See The Funny Side Of Life And Its Joyful Dimension And Not To Take Everything Too Tragically. I'd Also Say It's Necessary For My Ministry. A Writer Once Said That Angels Can Fly Because They Don't Take Themselves Too Seriously. Maybe We Could Also Fly A Bit If We Didn't Think We Were So Important.

Indeed, Truth Draws Strength From Itself And Not From The Number Of Votes In Its Favour.

A Thirst For The Infinite Is Indelibly Present In Human Beings. Man Was Created To Have A Relationship With God; We Need Him.

God Loves Us Despite Our Shortcomings And Sins, And His Love Gives Meaning To Our Lives And To The Life Of The World.

The Only Really Effective Apologia For Christianity Comes Down To Two Arguments, Namely, The Saints The Church Has Produced, And The Art Which Has Grown In Her Womb.

In The Current Economic Situation, The Temptation For The More Dynamic Economies Is That Of Chasing After Advantageous Alliances That, Nevertheless, Can Have Harmful Effects For Poorer States, Prolonging Situations Of Extreme Mass Poverty Of Men And Women And Using Up The Earth's Natural Resources, Entrusted To Man By God The Creator-as Genesis Says-that He Might Cultivate And Protect It.

The Fields Are Still Ripe For Harvesting (cf. Jn 4:35); God Continues To Give The Growth (cf. 1 Cor 3:6). We Can And Must Believe, With The Late Pope John Paul Ii, That God Is Preparing A New Springtime For Christianity (cf. Redemptoris Missio, 86). What Is Needed Above All, At This Time In The History Of The Church In America, Is A Renewal Of That Apostolic Zeal Which Inspires Her Shepherds Actively To Seek Out The Lost, To Bind Up Those Who Have Been Wounded, And To Bring Strength To Those Who Are Languishing (cf. Ez 34:16).

Respecting The Environment Does Not Mean Considering Material Or Animal Nature More Important Than Man. Rather, It Means Not Selfishly Considering Nature To Be At The Complete Disposal Of Our Own Interests, For Future Generations Also Have The Right To Reap Its Benefits And To Exhibit Towards Nature The Same Responsible Freedom That We Claim For Ourselves. Nor Must We Overlook The Poor, Who Are Excluded In Many Cases From The Goods Of Creation Destined For All.

With The Rosary, We Allow Ourselves To Be Guided By Mary, Model Of Faith, In Meditating On The Mysteries Of Christ, And Day After Day We Are Helped To Assimilate The Gospel, So That It Shapes All Our Lives.

Mary's Greatness Consists In The Fact That She Wants To Magnify God, Not Herself.

To Have Christian Hope Means To Know About Evil And Yet To Go To Meet The Future With Confidence. The Core Of Faith Rests Upon Accepting Being Loved By God, And Therefore To Believe Is To Say Yes, Not Only To Him, But To Creation, To Creatures, Above All, To Men, To Try To See The Image Of God In Each Person And Thereby To Become A Lover. That's Not Easy, But The Basic Yes, The Conviction That God Has Created Men, That He Stands Behind Them, That They Aren't Simply Negative, Gives Love A Reference Point That Enables It To Ground Hope On The Basis Of Faith.

In A Nuclear War There Would Be No Victors, Only Victims. The Truth Of Peace Require That All-whether Those Governments Which Openly Or Secretly Possess Nuclear Arms, Or Those Planning To Acquire Them- Agree To Change Their Course By Clear And Firm Decision And Strive For A Progressive And Concerted Nuclear Disarmament. The Resources Which Would Be Saved Could Then Be Employed In Projects Of Development Capable Of Benefiting All Their People, Especially The Poor.

Nuclear Disarmament

Tell Others About The Truth That Sets You Free.

God Is Our Father And Loves Us, Even When His Silence Remains Incomprehensible.

Standards Of Conduct Appropriate To Civil Society Or The Workings Of A Democracy Cannot Be Purely And Simply Applied To The Church.

Monsters, Among Other Brutes, Are The Ones Without Guilt Feelings. Perhaps Hitler Did Not Have Any, Or Himmler, Or Stalin. Maybe Mafia Bosses Do Not Have Any Guilt Feelings Either, Or Maybe Their Remains Are Just Well Hidden In The Cellar. Even Aborted Guilt Feelings...all Men Need Guilt Feelings.

Love Is The Very Process Of Passing Over, Of Transformation, Of Stepping Outside The Limitations Of Fallen Humanity - In Which We Are All Separated From One Another And Ultimately Impenetrable To One Another - Into An Infinite Otherness.

In A World Wounded By Conflicts, Where Violence Is Justified In God's Name, It's Important To Repeat That Religion Can Never Become A Vehicle Of Hatred, It Can Never Be Used In God's Name To Justify Violence.

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