“things do not look that serious, and the planet could continue as it is for some time. Such evasiveness serves as a licence to carrying on with our present lifestyles and models of production and consumption. This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.” 

“many lay people fear that they may be asked to undertake some apostolic work and they seek to avoid any responsibility that may take away from their free time.” 

“This is the way human beings contrive to feed their self-destructive vices: trying not to see them, trying not to acknowledge them, delaying the important decisions and pretending that nothing will happen.” 

“To serve means to work alongside the neediest, first of all to establish a close human relationship with them, based on solidarity. Solidarity—this word elicits fear in the developed world. They try not to say it. It is almost a dirty word for them. But it’s our word!” 

“If one has the answers to all the questions—that is the proof that God is not with him. It means that he is a false prophet using religion for himself. The great leaders of the people of God, like Moses, have always left room for doubt. You must leave room for the Lord, not for our certainties; we must be humble.” 

“In a simple, direct, personal way he is presenting us with the reality of a God who does not condemn the world, but loves it more than it can believe or imagine (John 3:16–17). A God who can enter into the depths of our suffering is not repulsed by our woundedness or disfigurements, but who meets us wherever and whoever we are, heals us by bringing us ever closer to himself.” 

“When we fail to acknowledge as part of reality the worth of a poor person, a human embryo, a person with disabilities – to offer just a few examples – it becomes difficult to hear the cry of nature itself; everything is connected.” 

“We must not focus on occupying the spaces where power is exercised, but rather on starting long-run historical processes. We must initiate processes rather than occupy spaces.” 

“The dogmatic and moral teachings of the church are not all equivalent. The church’s pastoral ministry cannot be obsessed with the transmission of a disjointed multitude of doctrines to be imposed insistently. ” 

“Be so without being presumptuous, imposing “our truths,” but rather be guided by the humble yet joyful certainty of those who have been found, touched, and transformed by the Truth who is Christ, ever to be proclaime

“As a result, one can observe in many agents of evangelization, even though they pray, a heightened individualism, a crisis of identity and a cooling of fervour. These are three evils which fuel one another.” 

“Being with” Christ does not mean isolating ourselves from others. Rather, it is a “being with” in order to go forth and encounter others.” 

“I distrust a charity that costs nothing and does not hurt.” 

“By learning to see and appreciate beauty, we learn to reject self-interested pragmatism. If someone has not learned to stop and admire something beautiful, we should not be surprised if he or she treats everything as an object to be used and abused without scruple.” 

“Where I come from, they always say that no one can boast of being chaste if he has never been tempted.” 

“It is in the very nature of conjugal love to be definitive. The lasting union expressed by the marriage vows is more than a formality or a traditional formula; it is rooted in the natural inclinations of the human person. For believers, it is also a covenant before God that calls for fidelity.” 

“We need to remember and remind ourselves where we come from, what we are, our nothingness.” 

“some people continue to defend trickle-down theories which assume that economic growth, encouraged by a free market, will inevitably succeed in bringing about greater justice and inclusiveness in the world. This opinion, which has never been confirmed by the facts, expresses a crude and naïve trust in the goodness of those wielding economic power and in the sacralized workings of the prevailing economic system. Meanwhile, the excluded are still waiting.” 

“The smart way to keep people passive and obedient is to strictly limit the spectrum of acceptable opinion, but allow very lively debate within that spectrum — even encourage the more critical and dissident views. That gives people the sense that there's free thinking going on, while all the time the presuppositions of the system are being reinforced by the limits put on the range of the debate.” 

“The problem is not in being sinners, the problem is when we don't let ourselves be transformed in love by the encounter with Christ.” 

“someone doesn’t want to carry the cross, I don’t know what she’s still doing in the convent.” 

“someone doesn’t want to carry the cross, I don’t know what she’s still doing in the convent.” 

“But sin is more than a stain. Sin is a wound; it needs to be treated, healed. This” 

“Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. She said: “We must be very proud of our vocation because it gives us the opportunity to serve Christ in the poor.”