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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.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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Every Human Life Is

Pope Benedict XVI

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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.

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The Church Does Not Engage In Proselytism. Instead, She Grows By "attraction": Just As Christ "draws All To Himself" By The Power Of His Love, Culminating In The Sacrifice Of The Cross, So The Church Fulfills Her Mission.

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.

To Suffer With The Other And For Others; To Suffer For The Sake Of Truth And Justice; To Suffer Out Of Love And In Order To Become A Person Who Truly Loves - These Are Fundamental Elements Of Humanity, And To Abandon Them Would Destroy Man Himself.

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

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When Human Affairs Are So Ordered That There Is No Recognition Of God, There Is A Belittling Of Man. That Is Why, In The Final Analysis, Worship And Law Cannot Be Completely Separated From Each Other. God Has A Right To A Response From Man, To Man Himself, And Where That Right Of God Totally Disappears, The Order Of Law Among Men Is Dissolved, Because There Is No Cornerstone To Keep The Whole Structure Together.

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Dear Brothers And Sisters, After The Great Pope John Paul Ii, The Cardinals Have Elected Me - A Simple, Humble Worker In The Vineyard Of The Lord.

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

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Liturgy Because Of Some Human Achievement, It Is A Sure Sign That The Essence Of Liturgy Has Totally Disappeared And Been Replaced By A Kind Of Religious Entertainment.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.

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.

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.

Holiness Does Not Consist In Not Making Mistakes Or Never Sinning. Holiness Grows With Capacity For Conversion, Repentance, Willingness To Begin Again, And Above All With The Capacity For Reconciliation And Forgiveness.

The Discernment Of A Vocation Is Above All The Fruit Of An Intimate Dialogue Between The Lord And His Disciples. Young People, If They Know How To Pray, Can Be Trusted To Know What To Do With God's Call.

Guilt Must Not Be Allowed To Fester In The Silence Of The Soul, Poisoning It From Within. It Needs To Be Confessed. Through Confession We Bring It Into The Light, We Place It Within Christ's Purifying Love. In Confession, The Lord Washes Our Soiled Feet Over And Over Again And Prepares Us For Table Fellowship With Him.

The Glory Of God Is The Living Man, But The Life Of Man Is The Vision Of God', Says St. Irenaeus, Getting To The Heart Of What Happens When Man Meets God On The Mountain In The Wilderness. Ultimately, It Is The Very Life Of Man, Man Himself As Living Righteously, That Is The True Worship Of God, But Life Only Becomes Real Life When It Receives Its Form From Looking Toward God.

To Desire The Common Good And Strive Towards It Is A Requirement Of Justice And Charity.

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.'

Do Not Believe That Living Together Before Marriage Guarantees The Future. By Burning Certain Stages, You Risk Burning Love Itself. Time Needs To Be Respected Gradually, Just Like The Expressions Of 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.

Beauty, Then, Is Not Mere Decoration, But Rather An Essential Element Of The Liturgical Action, Since It Is An Attribute Of God Himself And His Revelation. These Considerations Should Make Us Realize The Care Which Is Needed, If The Liturgical Action Is To Reflect Its Innate Splendour.

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.

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.

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.

An Adult Faith Does Not Follow The Waves Of Fashion And The Latest Novelties.

The World Needs Transparent Lives, Clear Souls, Pure Minds That Refuse To Be Perceived As Mere Objects Of Pleasure.

But Palm Sunday Tells Us That ... It Is The Cross That Is The True Tree Of Life.

There Is An Urgent Need For The Emergence Of A New Generation Of Apostles Anchored Firmly In The Word Of Christ, Capable Of Responding To The Challenges Of Our Times And Prepared To Spread The Gospel Far And Wide.

Our World Has Grown Weary Of Greed, Exploitation And Division, Of The Tedium Of False Idols And Piecemeal Responses, And The Pain Of False Promises.

Before His Gaze All Falsehood Melts Away. This Encounter With Him, As It Burns Us, Transforms And Frees Us, Allowing Us To Become Truly Ourselves... His Gaze, The Touch Of His Heart Heals Us Through An Undeniably Painful Transformation "as Through Fire". But It Is A Blessed Pain, In Which The Holy Power Of His Love Sears Through Us Like A Flame, Enabling Us To Become Totally Ourselves And Thus Totally Of God.

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.

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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.

If In My Life I Fail Completely To Heed Others, Solely Out Of A Desire To Be 'devout' And To Perform My 'religious Duties', Then My Relationship With God Will Also Grow Arid. It Becomes Merely 'proper', But Loveless.

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.

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.

The First Priority Will Consist In Restoring A Sense Of The Acceptance Of Life As A Gift From God. According To Both Sacred Scripture And The Wisest Traditions Of Your Continent, The Arrival Of A Child Is Always A Gift, A Blessing From God. Today It Is High Time To Place Greater Emphasis On This: Every Human Being, Every Tiny Human Person, However Weak, Is Created 'in The Image And Likeness Of God' (gen 1:27)

While We Too Always Seek Other Signs, Other Wonders, We Do Not Realize That He Is The Real Sign, God Made Flesh; He Is The Greatest Miracle Of The Universe: All The Love Of God Hidden In A Human Heart, In A Human Face.

Sometimes We Are Looked Upon As People Who Speak Only Of Prohibitions. Nothing Could Be Further From The Truth!

If Only Everyone Could Experience The Joy Of Being Christian, Being Loved By God Who Gave His Son For Us!

The Goods Of Creation Belong To Humanity As A Whole. Yet The Current Pace Of Environmental Exploitation Is Seriously Endangering The Supply Of Certain Natural Resources Not Only For The Present Generation, But Above All For Generations To Come.

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).

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.

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.

If We Allow The Love Of Christ To Change Our Heart, Then We Can Change The World. This Is The Secret Of Authentic Happiness.

When, As Today, There Is A Market In Human Organs, When Fetuses Are Produced To Make Spare Organs Available, Or To Make Progress In Research And Preventive Medicine, Many Regard The Human Content Of These Practices As Implicit. But The Contempt For Man That Underlies It, When Man Is Used And Abused, Leads -- Like It Or Not -- To A Descent Into Hell.

Used And Abused

All The Saints Of God Are There To Protect Me, To Sustain Me And To Carry Me. And Your Prayers, My Dear Friends, Your Indulgence, Your Love, Your Faith And Your Hope Accompany Me.

You Have Suffered Grievously And I Am Truly Sorry. I Know That Nothing Can Undo The Wrong You Have Endured. Your Trust Has Been Betrayed And Your Dignity Has Been Violated.

The Extermination Of Millions Of Unborn Children, In The Name Of The Fight Against Poverty, Actually Constitutes The Destruction Of The Poorest Of All Human Beings.

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

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.

I Encourage All Of You To Discover Ever More Fully In The Eucharist, The Sacrament Of Christ's Sacrificial Love, The Inspiration And Strength Needed To Work Ever More Generously For The Spread Of God's Kingdom And The Growth Of The Civilization Of Love.

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.

Grace, Lavished Upon Us By God And Communicated Through The Mystery Of The Incarnate Word, Is An Absolutely Free Gift With Which Nature Is Healed, Strengthened And Assisted In Pursuing The Innate Desire For Happiness In The Heart Of Every Man And Of Every Woman.

If You Follow The Will Of God, You Know That In Spite Of All The Terrible Things That Happen To You, You Will Never Lose A Final Refuge. You Know That The Foundation Of The World Is Love, So That Even When No Human Being Can Or Will Help You, You May Go On, Trusting In The One That Loves You.

Being A Christian Means Having Love. That Is Unbelievably Difficult And, At The Same Time, Incredibly Simple.

In The Eyes Of The Unrighteous It Appeared That God Did Not Intervene And That His Son Died, But For Believers It Was At That Precise Moment That True Glory Was Manifested And Definitive Salvation Achieved.

The Destruction Of The Environment, Its Improper Or Selfish Use, And The Violent Hoarding Of The Earth's Resources Cause Grievances, Conflicts And Wars, Precisely Because They Are The Consequences Of An Inhumane Concept Of Development.

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

Love Alone Makes Us Happy, Because We Live In Relation, And We Live To Love And To Be Loved.

It Is Important Always To Remember That Virtual Contact Cannot And Must Not Take The Place Of Direct Human Contact With People At Every Level Of Our Lives.

Go Forth! Carry The Good Tidings To The Poor, Bind The Wounds Of The Brokenhearted, Proclaim Freedom To Slaves, Open The Doors Of Prisons To Those Within, Promulgate The Year Of The Lord's Mercy... Bring Into The World The Hope Of God, Which Is Christ The Lord Who Rose From The Dead And Lives And Reigns Forever.

A Spiritual Desert Is Spreading: An Interior Emptiness, An Unnamed Fear, A Quiet Sense Of Despair.

The Answer To Our Cry Which God Gave In Jesus Infinitely Transcends Our Expectations, Achieving A Solidarity Which Cannot Be Human Alone, But Divine. Only The God Who Is Love, And The Love Which Is God, Could Choose To Save Us In This Way, Which Is Certainly The Lengthiest Way, Yet The Way Which Respects The Truth About Him And About Us: The Way Of Reconciliation, Dialogue And Cooperation.

We, However, Have A Different Goal: The Son Of God, The True Man. He Is The Measure Of True Humanism. An "adult" Faith Is Not A Faith That Follows The Trends Of Fashion And The Latest Novelty; A Mature, Adult Faith Is Deeply Rooted In Friendship With Christ. It Is This Friendship That Opens Us Up To All That Is Good And Gives Us A Criterion By Which To Distinguish The True From The False, And Deceit From Truth.

May All Our Contemporaries Stand Beside Their Brothers And Sisters In Humanity. Each One Of You Is Called By Christ And Must Be A Missionary Of The Good News In Word And In Active Charity.

The Sharing Of Goods And Resources, From Which Authentic Development Proceeds, Is Not Guaranteed By Merely Technical Progress And Relationships Of Utility, But By The Potential Of Love That Overcomes Evil With Good.

[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.

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 Holy Spirit Gives Us Joy. And He Is Joy. Joy Is The Gift In Which All The Other Gifts Are Included. It Is The Expression Of Happiness, Of Being In Harmony With Ourselves, That Which Can Only Come From Being In Harmony With God And With His Creation. It Belongs To The Nature Of Joy To Be Radiant; It Must Communicate Itself. The Missionary Spirit Of The Church Is None Other Than The Impulse To Communicate The Joy Which Has Been Given.

Believing Is Nothing Other Than, In The Darkness Of The World, Touching The Hand Of God, And In This Way, In Silence, Hearing The Word, Seeing Love.

That The Different Christian Confessions, Aware Of The Need For A New Evangelisation In This Period Of Profound Transformations, May Be Committed To Announcing The Good News And Moving Towards The Full Unity Of All Christians In Order To Offer A More Credible Testimony Of The Gospel.

One Of The Most Serious [challenges] Is Increased Military Spending And The Cost Of Maintaining And Developing Nuclear Arsenals. Enormous Resources Are Being Consumed For These Purposes, When They Could Be Spent On The Development Of Peoples, Especially Those Who Are Poorest. For This Reason I Firmly Hope That, During The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty Review Conference To Be Held This May In New York, Concrete Decisions Will Be Made Towards Progressive Disarmament, With A View To Freeing Our Planet From Nuclear Arms

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.

The Great Tasks Facing The Ecclesial Community In The Modern World - And Among The Many I Particularly Stress Evangelization And Ecumenism - Are Centered On The Word Of God And, At The Same Time, Draw Therefrom Their Justification And Support.

Dear Young People, We Have Seen That It Is The Holy Spirit Who Brings About The Wonderful Communion Of Believers In Jesus Christ. True To His Nature As Giver And Gift Alike, He Is Even Now Working Through You. Let Unifying Love Be Your Measure; Abiding Love Your Challenge; Self-giving Love Your Mission!

With The Synod Assembly, Therefore, I Heartily Recommend To The Church's Pastors And To The People Of God The Practice Of Eucharistic Adoration, Both Individually And In Community

One Who Has Hope Lives Differently.

These Days We Are All Pained By The Disaster Caused By The Hurricane In The United States Of America.

Making The Sign Of The Cross - As We Will Do During The Blessing - Means Saying A Visible And Public "yes" To The One Who Died And Rose For Us, To God Who In The Humility And Weakness Of His Love Is The Almighty, Stronger Than All The Power And Intelligence Of The World.

The Gospel Is Not Merely A Communication Of Things That Can Be Known - It Is One That Makes Things Happen And Is Life-changing. The Dark Door Of Time, Of The Future, Has Been Thrown Open. The One Who Has Hope Lives Differently; The One Who Hopes Has Been Granted The Gift Of A New Life.

Richard Dawkins's The Selfish Gene Is A Classic Example Of Science Fiction.

We Cannot Live, We Cannot Look At The Truth About Ourselves Without Letting Ourselves Be Looked At And Generated By Christ In Daily Eucharistic Adoration.

The Jesus Who Makes Everything Okay For Everyone Is A Phantom, A Dream, Not A Real Figure.

A Just Laicism Allows Religious Freedom. The State Does Not Impose Religion But Rather Gives Space To Religions With A Responsibility Toward Civil Society, And Therefore It Allows These Religions To Be Factors In Building Up Society.

I Believe That The Most Important Thing...is To Revive In The Whole Church That Positive Tension, That Yearning To Announce Christ Again To Contemporary Man.

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.

A New Generation Of Christians Is Being Called To Help Build A World In Which God's Gift Of Life Is Welcomed, Respected And Cherished-not Rejected, Feared As A Threat And Destroyed. A New Age In Which Love Is Not Greedy Or Self-seeking, But Pure, Faithful And Genuinely Free, Open To Others, Respectful Of Their Dignity, Seeking Their Good, Radiating Joy And Beauty. A New Age In Which Hope Liberates Us From The Shallowness, Apathy And Self-absorption That Deaden Our Souls And Poison Our Relationships.

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.

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.

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.

Can We Remain Indifferent Before The Problems Associated With Such Realities As Climate Change?

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

Without The Eucharist, The Church Simply Does Not Exist.

Civilization Is Now Under The Tyranny Of Relativism.

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

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.

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.

In This Regard, I Reiterate That The Prohibition Against Torture Cannot Be Contravened Under Any Circumstances.

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.

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

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 Promotion Of Human Rights Remains The Most Effective Strategy For Eliminating Inequalities Between Countries And Social Groups, And For Increasing Security.

The Deepest Poverty Is The Inability Of Joy, The Tediousness Of A Life Considered Absurd And Contradictory. This Poverty Is Widespread Today, In Very Different Forms In The Materially Rich As Well As The Poor Countries. The Inability Of Joy Presupposes And Produces The Inability To Love, Produces Jealousy, Avarice - All Defects That Devastate The Life Of Individuals And Of The World. This Is Why We Are In Need Of A New Evangelization - If The Art Of Living Remains An Unknown, Nothing Else Works... This Art Can Only Be Communicated By [one] Who Has Life - He Who Is The Gospel Personified.

This Clash Is An Absurdity Because On One Hand There Is Much Scientific Proof In Favor Of Evolution, Which Appears As A Reality That We Must See And Which Enriches Our Understanding Of Life And Being As Such.

Each Generation, As It Seeks To Advance The Common Good, Must Ask Anew: 'what Are The Requirements That Governments May Reasonably Impose Upon Citizens, And How Far Do They Extend? By Appeal To What Authority Can Moral Dilemmas Be Resolved?'

Advent's Intention Is To Awaken The Most Profound And Basic Emotional Memory Within Us, Namely, The Memory Of The God Who Became A Child. This Is A Healing Memory; It Brings Hope. The Purpose Of The Church's Year Is Continually To Rehearse Her Great History Of Memories, To Awaken The Heart's Memory So That It Can Discern The Star Of Hope.

Look At The Face Of The Other... Discover That He Has A Soul, A History And A Life, That He Is A Person And That God Loves This Person.

If We Take The Lord's Hand And Let Ourselves Be Guided By Him, The Path We Take Will Be Right And Good.

Consecrated Life Means Going To The Very Root Of The Love Of Jesus Christ With An Undivided Heart And Putting Nothing Ahead Of This Love.

Poverty Is A Plague Against Which Humanity Must Fight Without Cease.

Today, I, Too, Wish To Reaffirm That I Intend To Continue On The Path Toward Improved Relations And Friendship With The Jewish People, Following The Decisive Lead Given By John Paul Ii.

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.

God Does Not Have A Fixed Plan That He Must Carry Out; On The Contrary, He Has Many Different Ways Of Finding Man And Even Of Turning His Wrong Ways Into Right Ways...the Feast Of Christ The King Is Therefore Not A Feast Of Those Who Are Subjugated, But A Feast Of Those Who Know That They Are In The Hands Of The One Who Writes Straight On Crooked Lines.

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

Rock Music Is A Vehicle Of Anti-religion

To Be Sure, It Was Not Easter Sunday But Holy Saturday, But, The More I Reflect On It, The More This Seems To Be Fitting For The Nature Of Our Human Life: We Are Still Awaiting Easter; We Are Not Yet Standing In The Full Light But Walking Toward It Full Of Trust.

This World In Which We Live Needs Beauty In Order Not To Sink Into Despair. Beauty, Like Truth, Brings Joy To The Human Heart, And Is That Precious Fruit Which Resists The Erosion Of Time, Which Unites Generations And Enables Them To Be One In Admiration. And All This Through The Work Of Your Hands . . . Remember That You Are The Custodians Of Beauty In The World.

The Environment Is God's Gift To Everyone, And In Our Use Of It We Have A Responsibility Towards The Poor, Towards Future Generations, And Towards Humanity As A Whole.

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

I Urge You To Continue Your Fraternal Cooperation With One Another In The Spirit Of The Community Of Christ's Disciples, United In Your Love For Him And In The Gospel That You Proclaim.

Est Autem Fides Sperandarum Substantia Rerum, Argumentum Non Apparentium. – Faith Is The Hypostasis Of Things Hoped For; The Proof Of Things Not Seen.

The New Evangelization ... Begins In The Confessional.

It Is Not By Sidestepping Or Fleeing From Suffering That We Are Healed, But Rather By Our Capacity For Accepting It, Maturing Through It And Finding Meaning Through Union With Christ, Who Suffered With Infinite Love.

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

Thus, The Apostles' Adventure Began As A Gathering Of Persons Who Open To One Another Reciprocally. A Direct Knowledge Of The Teacher Began For The Disciples. They Saw Where He Lived And Began To Know Him. They Would Not Have To Be Heralds Of An Idea, But Witnesses Of A Person. Before Being Sent To Evangelize, They Would Have To "be" With Jesus (cf. Mark 3:14), Establishing A Personal Relationship With Him. With This Foundation, Evangelization Is No More Than A Proclamation Of What Has Been Experienced And An Invitation To Enter Into The Mystery Of Communion With Christ (cf. 1 John 13).

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.

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas, And We Can Communicate This Joy Simply: With A Smile, A Kind Gesture, A Little Help, Forgiveness. And The Joy We Give Will Certainly Come Back To Us.

Truth Is Not Determined By A Majority Vote.

The Eucharistic Sacrifice Of The Body And Blood Of Christ Embraces In Turn The Mystery Of Our Lord's Continuing Passion In The Members Of His Mystical Body, The Church In Every Age.

How Much Filth There Is In The Church, Even Among Those Who, In The Priesthood, Should Belong Entirely To Him. How Much Pride, How Much Self-sufficiency.

Listen To The Voice Of The Earth.

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.

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.

The Abuse Of Faith Has To Be Resisted Precisely.

The Main Task For Us All Is That Of A New Evangelization Aimed At Helping Younger Generations To Rediscover The True Face Of God, Who Is Love. To You Young People, Who Are In Search Of A Firm Hope, I Address The Very Words That Saint Paul Wrote To The Persecuted Christians In Rome At That Time: "may The God Of Hope Fill You With All Joy And Peace In Believing, So That You May Abound In Hope By The Power Of The Holy Spirit" (rom 15:13).

Nature Expresses A Design Of Love And Truth.

The Catholic Tradition Maintains That The Objective Norms Governing Right Action Are Accessible To Reason, Prescinding From The Content Of Revelation.

The Gospel Purifies And Renews, It Bears Fruit, Wherever The Community Of Believers Hears It And Receives God’s Grace In Truth And Charity. This Is My Confidence, This Is My Joy.

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.

Indeed, Beauty Is One Of Mankind's Greatest Needs; It Is The Root From Which The Branches Of Our Peace And The Fruits Of Our Hope Come Forth. Beauty Also Reveals God Because, Like Him, A Work Of Beauty Is Pure Gratuity; It Calls Us To Freedom And Draws Us Away From Selfishness.

Human Pride And Egoism Always Create Divisions, Build Walls Of Indifference, Hate And Violence. The Holy Spirit, On The Other Hand, Makes Hearts Capable Of Understanding The Languages Of All, As He Re-establishes The Bridge Of Authentic Communication Between Earth And Heaven.

Almsgiving, According To The Gospel, Is Not Mere Philanthropy; Rather It Is A Concrete Expression Of Charity, A Theological Virtue That Demands Interior Conversion To Love Of God And Neighbor, In Imitation Of Jesus Christ, Who, Dying On The Cross, Gave His Entire Self For Us.

I Am Consoled By The Fact That The Lord Knows How To Work And How To Act, Even With Insufficient Tools.

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.

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

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.

I Leave From Where The Apostle Arrived.

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.

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.

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.

Forgiveness Is Not Substitute For Justice.

Terrorist Activity Is Continually Recurring In Various Parts Of The World, Sowing Death And Destruction And Plunging Many Of Our Brothers And Sisters Into Grief And Despair

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.

What Does Sunday, The Day Of The Lord, Mean For Us? It Is A Day For Rest And For Family, But First Of All A Day For Him.

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.

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

An Authentic Updating Of Sacred Music Can Take Place Only In The Lineage Of The Great Tradition Of The Past, Of Gregorian Chant And Of Sacred Polyphony.

The Christian Faith Can Never Be Separated From The Soil Of Sacred Events, From The Choice Made By God, Who Wanted To Speak To Us, To Become Man, To Die And Rise Again, In A Particular Place And At A Particular Time.

Thus, The Apostles' Adventure Began As A Gathering Of Persons Who Open To One Another Reciprocally. A Direct Knowledge Of The Teacher Began For The Disciples.

Judas Is Neither A Master Of Evil Nor The Figure Of A Demoniacal Power Of Darkness But Rather A Sycophant Who Bows Before The Anonymous Power Of Changing Moods And Current Fashions. But It Is Precisely This Anonymous Power That Crucified Jesus, For It Was Anonymous Voices That Cried 'away With Him! Crucify Him!'

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.

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.

How Many People Also In Our Time Are In Search Of God, In Search Of Jesus And Of His Church, In Search Of Divine Mercy, And Are Waiting For A "sign" That Will Touch Their Minds And Their Hearts! Today, As Then, The Evangelist Reminds Us That The Only "sign" Is Jesus Raised On The Cross: Jesus Who Died And Rose Is The Absolutely Sufficient Sign. Through Him We Can Understand The Truth About Life And Obtain Salvation.

The Fact That The Church Is Convinced Of Not Having The Right To Confer Priestly Ordination On Women, Is Now Considered By Some As Irreconcilable With The European Constitution.

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

Reason Always Stands In Need Of Being Purified By Faith

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.

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.

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.

Art Is Elemental. Reason Alone As It's Expressed In The Sciences Can't Be Man's Complete Answer To Reality, And It Can't Express Everything That Man Can, Wants To, And Has To Express. I Think God Built This Into Man. Art Along With Science Is The Highest Gift God Has Given Him.

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

Let Us Seek In Particular To Communicate The Deepest Joy, That Of Knowing God In Christ.

No Law Made By Man Can Overturn That Of The Creator Without Dramatically Affecting Society In Its Very Foundation.

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.

Help Each Other To Live And To Grow In The Christian Faith So As To Be Valiant Witnesses Of The Lord. Be United, But Not Closed. Be Humble, But Not Fearful. Be Simple, But Not Naive. Be Thoughtful, But Not Complicated. Enter Into Dialogue With Others, But Be Yourselves.

Mission Is A Duty About Which One Must Say 'woe To Me If I Do Not Evangelize' (1 Corinthians 9:16)...redemption And Mission Are Acts Of Love [because] Those Who Proclaim The Gospel Participate In The Charity Of Christ.

I Think In Particular Of Our Need To Speak To The Hearts Of Young People, Who, Despite Their Constant Exposure To Messages Contrary To The Gospel, Continue To Thirst For Authenticity, Goodness And Truth. Much Remains To Be Done, Particularly On The Level Of Preaching And Catechesis In Parishes And Schools, If The New Evangelization Is To Bear Fruit For The Renewal Of Ecclesial Life In America.

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

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

God Loves Us; We Need Only To Summon Up The Humility To Allow Ourselves To Be Loved.

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

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 Rediscovery Of The Value Of One's Own Baptism Is At The Root Of Every Christian's Missionary Commitment, Because As We See In The Gospel, Those Who Allow Themselves To Be Fascinated By Christ Cannot Fail To Witness To The Joy Of Following In His Footsteps... We Understand Ever More That It Is Precisely In Virtue Of Baptism That We Possess A Co-natural Missionary Vocation.

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

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

Preservation Of The Environment, Promotion Of Sustainable Development And Particular Attention To Climate Change Are Matters Of Grave Concern For The Entire Human Family.

The More Ardent The Love For The Eucharist In The Hearts Of The Christian People, The More Clearly Will They Recognize The Goal Of All Mission: To Bring Christ To Others. Not Just A Theory Or A Way Of Life Inspired By Christ, But The Gift Of His Very Person. Anyone Who Has Not Shared The Truth Of Love With His Brothers And Sisters Has Not Yet Given Enough.

Young People In Particular, I Appeal To You: Bear Witness To Your Faith Through The Digital World.

Faith In The Resurrection Of Jesus Says That There Is A Future For Every Human Being; The Cry For Unending Life Which Is A Part Of The Person Is Indeed Answered... God Exists: That Is The Real Message Of Easter. Anyone Who Even Begins To Grasp What This Means Also Knows What It Means To Be Redeemed.

Society Today Is Being Fragmented By A Way Of Thinking That Is Inherently Short-sighted Because It Disregards The Full Horizon Of Truth - The Truth About God And About Us. By Its Nature, Relativism Fails To See The Whole Picture. It Ignores The Very Principles That Enable Us To Live And Flourish In Unity, Order And Harmony.

Dear Young People, Let Me Now Ask You A Question. What Will You Leave To The Next Generation? Are You Building Your Lives On Firm Foundations, Building Something That Will Endure?

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.

We Are Not Some Casual And Meaningless Product Of Evolution. Each Of Us Is The Result Of A Thought Of God.

Concern For The Fate Of The Great Rivers Of The Earth Must Lead Us To Reflect Soberly On The Model Of Development Which Our Society Is Pursuing. A Purely Economic And Technological Understanding Of Progress, To The Extent That It Fails To Acknowledge Its Intrinsic Limitations And To Take Into Consideration The Integral Good Of Humanity, Will Inevitably Provoke Negative Consequences For Individuals, Peoples And Creation Itself.

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

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.

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