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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.

-Pope Benedict XVI

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The Experience Of [the

Pope Benedict XVI

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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.

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

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

Today Christmas Has Become A Commercial Celebration, Whose Bright Lights Hide The Mystery Of God’s Humility, Which In Turn Calls Us To Humility And Simplicity. Let Us Ask The Lord To Help Us See Through The Superficial Glitter Of This Season, And To Discover Behind It The Child In The Stable In Bethlehem, So As To Find True Joy And True Light.

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

God Of Peace, Bring Your Peace To Our Violent World: Peace In The Hearts Of All Men And Women And Peace Among The Nations Of The Earth.

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

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.

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

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.

Rediscover The Joy Of Believing.

We Can Not Communicate With The Lord If We Do Not Communicate With Each Other. If We Want To Present Ourselves To Him, We Must Take A Step Towards Meeting One Another. To Do This We Must Learn The Great Lesson Of Forgiveness: We Must Not Let The Gnawings Of Resentment Work In Our Soul But Must Open Our Hearts To The Magnanimity Of Listening To Others, Open Our Hearts To Understanding Them, Eventually To Accepting Their Apologies, To Generously Offering Our Own.

Listening To Others

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.

Perhaps Reluctantly We Come To Acknowledge That There Are Also Scars Which Mark The Surface Of Our Earth: Erosion, Deforestation, The Squandering Of The World’s Mineral And Ocean Resources In Order To Fuel An Insatiable Consumption.

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.

We Must Have Great Respect For These People Who Also Suffer And Who Want To Find Their Own Way Of Correct Living. On The Other Hand, To Create A Legal Form Of A Kind Of Homosexual Marriage, In Reality, Does Not Help These People.

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.

It Is Imperative That The Entire Christian Community In The United States Come To Realize The Grave Threats To The Church's Public Moral Witness Presented By A Militant Atheism Which Finds Increasing Expression In The Political And Cultural Spheres. The Seriousness Of These Threats Needs To Be Clearly Appreciated At Every Level Of Ecclesial Life.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Love Has A Particular Trait: Far From Being Indulgent Or Fickle, It Has A Task Or Purpose To Fulfil: To Abide. By Its Nature Love Is Enduring. Again, Dear Friends, We Catch A Further Glimpse Of How Much The Holy Spirit Offers Our World: Love Which Dispels Uncertainty; Love Which Overcomes The Fear Of Betrayal; Love Which Carries Eternity Within; The True Love Which Draws Us Into A Unity That Abides!

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.

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.

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.

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).

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

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

The Celebration Of Lent, In The Context Of The Year Of Faith, Offers Us A Valuable Opportunity To Meditate On The Relationship Between Faith And Charity: Between Believing In God - The God Of Jesus Christ - And Love, Which Is The Fruit Of The Holy Spirit And Which Guides Us On The Path Of Devotion To God And Others.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Today We Bury His Remains In The Earth As A Seed Of Immortality. Our Hearts Are Full Of Sadness, Yet At The Same Time Of Joyful Hope And Profound Gratitude.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

Although The Particular Inclination Of The Homosexual Person Is Not A Sin, It Is More Or Less Strong Tendency Ordered To An Intrinsic Moral Evil, And Thus The Inclination Itself Must Be Seen As An Objective Disorder.

The "door Of Faith" (acts 14:27) Is Always Open For Us, Ushering Us Into The Life Of Communion With God And Offering Entry Into His Church. It Is Possible To Cross That Threshold When The Word Of God Is Proclaimed And The Heart Allows Itself To Be Shaped By Transforming Grace. To Enter Through That Door Is To Set Out On A Journey That Lasts A Lifetime.

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

Joy Is The True Gift Of Christmas.

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

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

Civilization Is Now Under The Tyranny Of Relativism.

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.

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.

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

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

Praying Actualizes And Deepens Our Communion With God. Our Prayer Can And Should Arise Above All From Our Heart, From Our Needs, Our Hopes, Our Joys, Our Sufferings, From Our Shame Over Sin, And From Our Gratitude From The Good. It Can And Should Be A Wholly Personal Prayer.

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.

Dear Brothers And Sisters...the Lord Is Calling Me To "climb The Mountain", To Devote Myself Even More To Prayer And Meditation. But This Does Not Mean Abandoning The Church, Indeed, If God Is Asking Me To Do This, It Is So I Can Continue To Serve The Church With The Same Dedication And The Same Love With Which I Have Done Thus Far, But In A Way That Is Better Suited To My Age And My Strength

Forgiveness Does Not Replace Justice.

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

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.

It Is Theologically And Anthropologically Important For Woman To Be At The Center Of Christianity. Through Mary, And The Other Holy Women, The Feminine Element Stands At The Heart Of The Christian Religion.

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.

Forgiveness Is Not Substitute For Justice.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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

The "name" Of The Most Holy Trinity Is In A Certain Way Impressed Upon Everything That Exists, Because Everything That Exists, Down To The Least Particle, Is A Being In Relation, And Thus God-relation Shines Forth, Ultimately Creative Love Shines Forth. All Comes From Love, Tends Toward Love, And Is Moved By Love, Naturally, According To Different Grades Of Consciousness And Freedom... The Strongest Proof That We Are Made In The Image Of The Trinity Is This: Only Love Makes Us Happy, Because We Live In Relation, And We Live To Love And Be Loved.

I Thank You, Dear Brothers, For Preaching The Love Of Christ And Exhorting Your People To Tolerance, Respect And Love Of Their Brothers And Sisters And Of All Persons. In This Way You Exercise The Prophetic Ministry That The Lord Has Entrusted To The Church, And In Particular To The Successors Of The Apostles (cf. Pastores Gregis, 26).

Let Us Put Our Hands Today Again At (god's) Disposition And Pray That He Takes Our Hands To Guide Us. Let His Hand Take Ours So We Won't Sink, But Will Serve Life Which Is Stronger Than Death, And Love Which Is Stronger Than Hatred.

God's Love Does Not Distinguish Between The Infant In The Mother's Womb Or The Child Or The Youth Or The Adult Or The Older Person. In Each One God Sees His Image And Likeness. Human Life Is A Manifestation Of God And His Glory.

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.

We Cannot But Recognize That, In Practical Terms, Defending Human Life Has Become More Difficult Today, Because A Mentality Has Been Created That Progressively Devalues Human Life And Entrusts It To The Judgement Of Individuals. A Consequence Deriving Therefrom Is Lessened Respect For The Human Person, A Value That Lies At The Foundation Of Any Form Of Civil Coexistence, Over And Above The Faith A Person May Profess.

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

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.

The Closer A Person Is To God, The Closer He Is To People.

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.

Society As A Whole Must Defend The Conceived Child's Right To Life And The True Good Of The Woman Who Can Never, In Any Circumstances, Find Fulfilment In The Decision To Abort.

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.

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.

The Evangelization Of The Person And Of Human Communities Depends Totally On This Encounter With Jesus Christ.

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.

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.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

If You Abide In The Love Of Christ, Rooted In The Faith, You Will Encounter, Even Amid Setbacks And Suffering, The Source Of True Happiness And Joy. Faith Does Not Run Counter To Your Highest Ideals; On The Contrary, It Elevates And Perfects Those Ideals. Dear Young People, Do Not Be Satisfied With Anything Less Than Truth And Love, Do Not Be Content With Anything Less Than Christ.

Do Not Be Afraid Of Christ. He Takes Nothing Away And He Gives You Everything.

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.

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

I'm Not A Man Who Constantly Thinks Up Jokes.

Each Of You Has A Personal Vocation Which He Has Given You For Your Own Joy And Sanctity. When A Person Is Conquered By The Fire Of His Gaze, No Sacrifice Seems Too Great To Follow Him And Give Him The Best Of Ourselves. This Is What The Saints Have Always Done, Spreading The Light Of The Lord ... And Transforming The World Into A Welcoming Home For Everyone.

Many Of Our Brothers And Sisters Are 'baptized, But Insufficiently Evangelized.' In A Number Of Cases, Nations Once Rich In Faith And In Vocations Are Losing Their Identity Under The Influence Of A Secularized Culture. The Need For A New Evangelization, So Deeply Felt By My Venerable Predecessor, Must Be Valiantly Reaffirmed, In The Certainty That God's Word Is Effective.

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.

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

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.

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.

Without Fear We Must Set Sail On The Digital Sea.

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

Everything In This World Will Pass Away. In Eternity Only Love Will Remain.

Our Faith Is Well Founded; But It Is Necessary That This Faith Become Part Of Our Lives. A Great Effort Must Therefore Be Made In Order For All Christians To Transform Themselves Into 'witnesses,' Ready And Able To Shoulder The Commitment Of Testifying - Always And To Everyone - To The Hope That Animates Them.

Today The Great Gift Of God's Creation Is Exposed To Serious Dangers And Lifestyles Which Can Degrade It. Environmental Pollution Is Making Particularly Unsustainable The Lives Of The Poor Of The World ... We Must Pledge Ourselves To Take Care Of Creation And To Share Its Resources In Solidarity.

...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.

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

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.

Violence Against Even One Human Being Is Violence Against All.

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.

At The Time Of Galileo The Church Remained Much More Reasonable Than Galileo Himself. The Process Against Galileo Was Reasonable And Just.

We Celebrate [easter] Because Now, Thanks To The Risen Lord, It Is Definitively Established That Reason Is Stronger Than Unreason, Truth Stronger Than Lies, Love Stronger Than Death.

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.

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.

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.

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

In The Month Of October, The Universal Church Highlights Her Missionary Vocation. Guided By The Holy Spirit She Knows She Is Called To Pursue The Work Of Jesus Himself, Proclaiming The Gospel Of The Kingdom Of God Which Is "righteousness And Peace And Joy In The Holy Spirit"

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

Celibacy Is Not A Matter Of Compulsion. Someone Is Accepted As A Priest Only When He Does It Of His Own Accord.

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.

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.

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

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.

The Catholic Church Is Not Dead, It Is Not Even Tired!

God Seeks Us Where We Are, Not So That We Stay There, But So That We May Come To Be Where He Is, So That We May Get Beyond Ourselves.

Christian Inspirational

Holiness Never Goes Out Of Fashion.

It Is Important Always To Know That The First Word, The True Initiative, The True Activity Comes From God And Only By Inserting Ourselves Into The Divine Initiative, Only Begging For This Divine Initiative, Shall We Too Be Able To Become - With Him And In Him - Evangelizers.

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)

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.

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.

Since Politics Fundamentally Should Be A Moral Enterprise, The Church In This Sense Has Something To Say About Politics.

Music Has No Borders, No Race Or Color, No Limits Of Country, No Ethnicity. Music Makes The People Come Together. Dance It,dance All.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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

We Can Learn From Him That Suffering And The Gift Of Himself Is An Essential Gift We Need In Our Time.

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.

We Are Building A Dictatorship Of Relativism That Does Not Recognize Anything As Definitive And Whose Ultimate Goal Consists Solely Of One's Own Ego And Desires. 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.

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

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

The Human Person Finds His Perfection "in Seeking And Loving What Is True And Good.

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.

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.

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.

Art Means: Revealing God In Everything That Exists.

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

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

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.

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

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

Our Knowledge Of Jesus Is In Need Above All Of A Living Experience: Another Person's Testimony Is Certainly Important, As In General The Whole Of Our Christian Life Begins With The Proclamation That Comes To Us From One Or Several Witnesses. But We Ourselves Must Be Personally Involved In An Intimate And Profound Relationship With Jesus.

Again And Again It Astonishes Us That God Makes Himself A Child So That We May Love Him, So That We May Dare To Love Him, And As A Child Trustingly Lets Himself Be Taken Into Our Arms. It Is As If God Were Saying: I Know That My Glory Frightens You, And That You Are Trying To Assert Yourself In The Face Of My Grandeur. So Now I Am Coming To You As A Child, So That You Can Accept Me And Love Me.

Meaning That Is Self-made Is In The Last Analysis No Meaning. Meaning, That Is, The Ground On Which Our Existence As A Totality Can Stand And Live, Cannot Be Made But Only Received.

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.

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.

It Is A Symbol Evoking A Reality That Touches The Depths Of The Person ... The Light Of Goodness That Vanquishes Evil, Of Love That Overcomes Hatred, Of Life That Defeats Death.

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.

God's Love For His People Is So Great That It Turns God Against Himself, His Love Against His Justice.

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.

Before It's Too Late, We Need To Make Courageous Choices That Will Recreate A Strong Alliance Between Man And Earth. We Need A Decisive 'yes' To Care For Creation And A Strong Commitment To Reverse Those Trends That Risk Making The Situation Of Decay Irreversible.

Do Not Be Afraid To Say “yes” To Jesus, To Find Your Joy In Doing His Will...

The Examination Of Conscience Has An Important Educational Value. It Teaches Us To Look Sincerely At Our Own Lives, To Compare Them With The Truth Of The Gospel And To Evaluate Them With Parameters That Are Not Only Human But Drawn From Divine Revelation. Comparison With The Commandments, With The Beatitudes, And Above All With The Precept To Love, Represents The First Great 'school Of Penance

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.

Prudence Does Not Mean Failing To Accept Responsibilities And Postponing Decisions; It Means Being Committed To Making Joint Decisions After Pondering Responsibly The Road To Be Taken, Decisions Aimed At Strengthening That Covenant Between Human Beings And The Environment, Which Should Mirror The Creative Love Of God, From Whom We Came And Towards Whom We Are Journeying.

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.

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.

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

God Is Alive. He Has Created Every One Of Us, And He Knows Us All. He Is So Great That He Has Time For The Little Things In Our Lives: “every Hair Of Your Head Is Numbered”. God Is Alive, And Makes Sense To Become A Priest: The World Needs Priests, Pastors, Today, Tomorrow And Always, Until The End Of Time.

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.

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.

The New Evangelization ... Begins In The Confessional.

The Truth Comes To Rule, Not Through Violence, But Rather Through Its Own Power; [this Is The Central Theme Of John's Gospel:] When Brought Before Pilate, Jesus Professes That He Himself Is The Truth And The Witness To The Truth. He Does Not Defend The Truth With Legions But Rather Makes It Visible Through His Passion And Thereby Also Implements It.

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

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

With The Eucharist, Therefore, Heaven Comes Down To Earth, The Tomorrow Of God Descends Into The Present And It Is As If Time Remains Embraced By Divine Eternity.

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.

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.

Receiving The Eucharist Means Adoring Him Whom We Receive. Only In This Way Do We Become One With Him, And Are Given, As It Were, A Foretaste Of The Beauty Of The Heavenly Liturgy. The Act Of Adoration Outside Mass Prolongs And Intensifies All That Takes Place During The Liturgical Celebration Itself.

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.

Tell Others About The Truth That Sets You Free.

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

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