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I Thank Missio, (pontifical Mission Societies), The Primary Instruments For Cooperation In The Universal Church's Universal Mission In The World. Through Their Action, The Proclamation Of The Gospel Bears Witness To Christ And Is Lived Out In Service Of Our Neighbour Through Justice For The Poorest, Education In Isolated Villages, Medical Care In Remote Areas, Freedom From Poverty, The Reintegration Of The Marginalised, Support For The Development Of Peoples, The Breaking Down Of Ethnic Divisions And Respect For Life In All Its Stages.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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I Thank Missio, (pontifical

Pope Benedict XVI

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I Thank Missio, (pontifical Mission Societies), The Primary Instruments For Cooperation In The Universal Church's Universal Mission In The World. Through Their Action, The Proclamation Of The Gospel Bears Witness To Christ And Is Lived Out In Service Of Our Neighbour Through Justice For The Poorest, Education In Isolated Villages, Medical Care In Remote Areas, Freedom From Poverty, The Reintegration Of The Marginalised, Support For The Development Of Peoples, The Breaking Down Of Ethnic Divisions And Respect For Life In All Its Stages.

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Fullness Of Life

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Used And Abused

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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.

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Fullness Of Life

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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Love Looks To The Eternal. Love Is Indeed "ecstasy," Not In The Sense Of A Moment Of Intoxication, But Rather As A Journey, An On-going Exodus Out Of The Closed Inward-looking Self Toward Its Liberation Through Self-giving... Toward Authentic Self-discovery And Indeed The Discovery Of God.

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.

The Proclamation Of The Gospel Remains The Primary Service That The Church Owes To Humanity, To Offer The Salvation Of Christ To The Man Of Our Time, Who Is In Many Ways Humiliated And Oppressed, And To Orientate In A Christian Way Cultural, Social, And Ethical Transformations That Are Unfolding In The World.

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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.

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.

In Silence, We Are Better Able To Listen To And Understand Ourselves; Ideas Come To Birth And Acquire Depth; We Understand With Greater Clarity What It Is We Want To Say And What We Expect From Others; And We Choose How To Express Ourselves.

Dialogue Is The Fundamental Unfolding Of A Gift Of Oneself To Another.

The Church's Mission Is Not Political In Nature. Her Task Is To Open The World To The Religious Sense By Proclaiming Christ.

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

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.

Jesus Resolved The False Opposition Between Obedience And Freedom And Opened The Path To Freedom

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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!

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I Too Hope In This Short Reign To Be A Man Of Peace.

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

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We Were Looking For A 'good Shepherd,' And Instead We Got A German Shepherd.

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

Forgiveness Does Not Replace Justice.

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You Have Before You The Task Of Seeking New Ways To Announce Christ In Situations Of Rapid And Often Profound Transformation, And Of Emphasizing The Missionary Character Of All Pastoral Activity.

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.

Believers Are Increasingly Aware That, Unless The Good News Is Made Known Also In The Digital World, It May Be Absent In The Experience Of Many People For Whom This Existential Space Is Important.

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 Ways Of The Lord Are Not Easy, But We Were Not Created For An Easy Life, But For Great Things, For Goodness.

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?

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.

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.

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

The Church's Mission Is To Spread Hope "contagiously" Among All Peoples... It Is Only In This Mission That The True Journey Of Humanity Is Understood And Attested.

Continue To Witness To The Gospel Every Day And Commit Yourselves Generously In The Next Missionary Initiatives In The Diocese Of Rome.

Men And Women Cannot Rest Content With A Superficial And Unquestioning Exchange Of Skeptical Opinions And Experiences Of Life - All Of Us Are In Search Of Truth And We Share This Profound Yearning Today More Than Ever.

Hope Is Practiced Through The Virtue Of Patience, Which Continues To Do Good Even In The Face Of Apparent Failure, And Through The Virtue Of Humility, Which Accepts God's Mystery And Trusts Him Even At Times Of Darkness.

To Me, It Really Seems Visible Today That Ethics Is Not Something Exterior To The Economy, Which, As Technical Matter, Could Function On Its Own; Rather, Ethics Is An Interior Principle Of The Economy Itself, Which Cannot Function If It Does Not Take Account Of The Human Values Of Solidarity And Reciprocal Responsibility.

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.

Holiness Never Goes Out Of Fashion.

The Church Needs Your Faith, Your Idealism And Your Generosity, So That She Can Always Be Young In The Spirit.

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.

Do Not Be Afraid Of Seeming Different And Being Criticized For What Might Seem To Be Losing Or Out Of Fashion; Your Peers But Adults Too, Especially Those Who Seem More Distant From The Mindset And Values Of The Gospel, Are Crying Out To See Someone Who Dares To Live According To The Fullness Of Humanity Revealed By Jesus Christ.

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.

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

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

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.

Mission Is A Workshop Where There Is Room For All.

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.

The World Promises You Comfort, But You Were Not Made For Comfort. You Were Made For Greatness.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

Every Human Being Is Loved By God The Father. No One Need Feel Forgotten, For Every Name Is Written In The Lord's Loving Heart.

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

The Abuse Of Faith Has To Be Resisted Precisely.

Advent Is The Spiritual Season Of Hope Par Excellence, And In This Season The Whole Church Is Called To Be Hope, For Itself And For The World.

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.

Many People Perceive Christianity As Something Institutional - Rather Than As An Encounter With Christ - Which Explains Why They Don't See It As A Source Of Joy.

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.

In The Eucharist, The Son Of God Comes To Meet Us And Desires To Become One With Us; Eucharistic Adoration Is Simply The Natural Consequence Of The Eucharistic Celebration, Which Is Itself The Church's Supreme Act Of Adoration.

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.

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

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.

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

After Having Repeatedly Examined My Conscience Before God, I Have Come To The Certainty That My Strengths, Due To An Advanced Age, Are No Longer Suited To An Adequate Exercise Of The Petrine Ministry.

Selfishness And Fear Are At The Root Of (pro-abortion) Legislation...we In The Church Have A Great Struggle To Defend Life...life Is A Gift Not A Threat.

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

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 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.

Humor Is In Fact An Essential Element In The Mirth Of Creation. We Can See How, In Many Matters In Our Lives, God Wants To Prod Us Into Taking Things A Bit More Lightly.

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.

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.

Being Missionaries Means Loving God With All One's Heart, Even To The Point, If Necessary, Of Dying For Him... Being Missionaries Means Stooping Down To The Needs Of All, Like The Good Samaritan, Especially Those Of The Poorest And Most Destitute People.

You Must Know How To Translate The Indications Of The Word Into Daily Witness, Allowing Yourselves To Be Formed By The Word Which, Like Seed Sown In Good Soil, Brings Abundant Fruit. Thus You Will Remain Docile To The Spirit And Grow In Union With God, You Will Cultivate Fraternal Communion Among Yourselves And Be Ready To Serve Your Brethren Generously, Especially Those Most In Need.

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

Both Strength Of Mind And Body Are Necessary, Strengths Which In The Last Few Months Have Deteriorated In Me To The Extent That I Have Had To Recognize My Incapacity To Adequately Fulfill The Ministry Entrusted To Me.

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

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.

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

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