Pope Francis Quotes

An evangelist must have a happy face...He can't look like he just came from a funeral.

God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking His mercy.

Experience the joy of life's little things. Treat yourself well, according to your means...Do not deprive yourself of the day's enjoyment.

Rejoicing is found throughout the Gospel.

Life is not all Lent without Easter.

Goodness always tends to spread.... Any person who has experienced (the) profound liberation (of truth and goodness) becomes more sensitive to the needs of others.

If we wish to lead a dignified and fulfilling life, we have to reach out to others and seek their good.

Those who enjoy life most are those who leave security on the shore and become excited by the mission of communicating to others.

An evangelizer must never look look like someone who has just come from a funeral.

We should never forget that Christ is ever young and a constant source of newness, so every form of authentic evangelization is always "new."

Evangelization IS NOT a heroic individual undertaking, it is actually the Lord's work.

Newness DOES NOT displace or forget the living history which surrounds and carries us forward.

The believer is essentially "one who remembers," not just Christ, but also all the other witnesses to faith who have influenced us.

Three principal settings of people vis-a-vis the Catholic Church: 1. Ordinary pastoral ministry which consists of the "regular" faithful. In this category we can also include those members of the faithful who preserve a deep and sincere faith, expressing it in different ways, but seldom taking part in worship. 2. The Baptized whose lives do not reflect the demands of Baptism. They lack a meaningful relationship to the Church and no longer experience the consolation born of faith. To these the Church tries to offer conversion. 3. Those who don't know or who have rejected Christ. Many of these are quietly seeking or yearning for God.

Christians have the duty to PROCLAIM the Gospel without excluding anyone.

The (Catholic) Church doesn't grow by proselytizing , but by attraction.

Evangelization should be part of every activity we undertake.

God's word is unpredictable in its power.

This is what I am asking you, be shepherds with the smell of sheep.

We should accompany others by walking with them in the messy realities of their lives.

Mercy will always be greater than any sin.

Speak Continually with Jesus, in the good times and in the bad, when you do right and when you do wrong....This is prayer.

We must always desire the salvation of those who offend us.

God's justice is His mercy.

A culture of encounter is one which engages everyone and everything in dialogue and with respect.

Listening is more than hearing. Listening ... is an openness of heart which makes possible that closeness without which genuine spiritual encounter cannot occur.

Our paths may be different, but all are called to "go forth."

Gospel joy is a missionary joy; a sign that the Gospel has been proclaimed and is bearing fruit.

An evangelizing community gets involved by word and deed in people's daily lives....

Evangelizers must take on the "smell of the sheep."

Evangelization consists mostly of patience and disregard for constraints of time.

Evangelization consists mostly of patience and disregard for constraints of time. Care for the grain and don't grow impatient with the weeds.

Sometimes prayer takes risk.

Prayer must be: free, insistent, with arguments....Prayer is like speaking with a friend....

Mere administration of the Church is no longer enough.

Prayer...reinvigorates - just like what happened to Moses going down the mountain to the Israelites.

Every renewal of the Church involves self-examination or correcting flaws introduced by human members to try to produce the perfect bride Christ envisions. The Church should look to evangelization instead of self-preservation.

The parish is not an outdated institution....This presumes that it really is in contact with the homes and lives of its people, and does not become a useless structure out of touch with people or a self-absorbed group made up of a chosen few.

In order to give brotherly correction to another requires one to first recognize oneself as a sinner and not to sit in judgment.

Excessive centralization...complicates the Church's life and her missionary outreach.

Pastoral missionary ministry must abandon the "we've always done it this way" attitude.

Today's technology poses a greater risk of distorting the message being preached and taking Church's moral teaching out of context.

The missionary message must concentrate on the most essential and most necessary; it must be simplified without losing depth and truth.

There are differences in importance between various revealed truths....(but) no truth must be denied....All of the truths are important and illumine one another.

Mercy is the greatest virtue.

In preaching the Gospel, a fitting sense of proportion has to be maintained....If the Gospel's message of love is obscured, it is no longer Gospel which is being preached but certain doctrinal or moral points based on specific ideological options.

The Church is not a monolithic body of doctrine guarded by all....Differing currents of thought in philosophy, theology, and pastoral practice, if open to be reconciled by the Spirit in respect and love, can enable the Church to grow, since all of them help to express more clearly the immense riches of God's Word....This brings out different facets of the inexhaustible riches of the Gospel....Unchanging truths must be expressed in a language which brings out their abiding newness....The greater danger is holding fast to a formulation while failing....All religious teaching ultimately has to be reflected in the teacher's way of life. to convey its substance. Certain customs not directly connected to the heart of the Gospel, even some which have deep historical roots, are no longer properly understood and appreciated. Some of these customs may be beautiful, but they no loner serve as (a) means of communicating the Gospel....The same goes for Church precepts which may have been quite effective in their time, but no longer have the same usefulness for directing and shaping people's lives.... A missionary heart never opts for rigidity and defensiveness.

Faith always remains something of a cross.

There were few precepts left by the apostles. Those which have been imposed since should be insisted upon with moderation so that religion does not become servitude. This should be one criterion in considering any Church reform.

The confessional is not a torture chamber but rather an encounter with the Lord's mercy which spurs us on to do our best....A small step, in the midst of great human limitations, can be more pleasing to God than a life which appears outwardly in order but moves through the day without confronting great difficulties.

Going out to others does not mean rushing out aimlessly into the world. Often it is better simply to slow down, to put aside our eagerness in order to see and listen to others, to stop rushing from one thing to another and to remain with someone who has faltered along the way.

Our church doors should always be open - literally.

How we should correct a Christian sibling: First, correct in private. Words can kill. When I make unfair criticism...this is killing another person's reputation. This avoids needles humiliation. Second, take a few moments before speaking to sinner. This helps free the offended person from anger and resentment - which always causes harm. Insults are ugly and non-Christian.

Do I create unity around me? Or do I cause division, by gossip, criticism, or envy?

May Virgin Mary be an example to spouses...of how to live (our) conjugal relationship in unity and harmony.

Part of our prayer to Our Lady of Sheshan - Support us so that (we) may never be afraid to talk...about the world to Jesus.

With Christ joy is constantly born anew.

Frequently, we act as arbiters of grace rather than its facilitators.

Today's Dangers: The desolation and anguish born of a complacent yet covetous heart; Feverish pursuit of frivolous pleasure; Blunted conscience.

There is an inseparable bond between our faith and the poor.

Diagnostic overload is not always accompanied by improved and actually applicable methods of treatments. Sociology attempts to embrace all of reality by employing an allegedly neutral and clinical method.

Certain present realities, unless effectively dealt with, are capable of setting of processes of dehumanization which would then be hard to reverse. We need to distinguish clearly what might be a fruit of the Kingdom from what runs counter to God's plan.

An economy of exclusion and inequality kills: Food is thrown away while people are starving; The stock market is news, but homeless dying of exposure isn't.... Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest....We have created a "throw away" culture which is now spreading. This includes humans. It is not just "exploitation and oppression;" the excluded are not just on society's fringe; they are no longer even a part of it.... (He then castigates those who defend trickle-down economy of the free market.) This theory is an opinion never confirmed by facts.... A globalization of indifference has developed.....The culture of prosperity deadens us.

We accept calmly money's dominion over ourselves and our societies.... Financial crises originate in a profound human crisis: the denial of the primacy of the human person!...Finance and economy lack real concern for human beings....Humans are reduced to the need for consumption. The growing money gap is the result of ideologies which defend the absolute autonomy of the market-place and financial speculation. Consequently, they reject the right of states, charged with vigilance for the common good, to exercise any form of control. (He then adds worldwide tax evasion as another cause of the problem.).... Whatever is fragile, like the environment, is defenseless before the interests of a deified market.

Ethics is viewed with derision today because it is seen as a threat to money and power.

Ethics leads to God.

God is seen as dangerous by those who put money and power first.

Financial experts and political leaders should consider the words of St. John Chrysostom: "Not to share one's goods with the poor is to rob them and to deprive them of life. It is not our own goods which we hold, but theirs."

Money must serve, not rule!

Money must serve, not rule!

Until exclusion and inequality in society and between people are reverse, it will be impossible to eliminate violence.

The socioeconomic system is unjust at its root.

An evil embedded in the structure of a society has a constant potential for disintegration and death.

Confronting challenges such as Christian persecution is also evangelization.

In a culture where each person want to be the bearer of his or her own subjective truth, it becomes difficult for citizens to devise a common plan which transcends individual gain and personal ambitions.

In today's prevailing culture appearances are more important than real.... The rise of both fundamentalist religions and spirituality without God are both human reactions to materialistic, consumer oriented, individualist society.....This is also the means for exploiting the poor and those on society's fringes....They fill the vacuum left by secularist rationalism.

Globalization hastens deterioration of cultural roots....The thinking and acting of more economically advanced but ethically debilitated cultures invades.

As for the Catholic Church, the Baptized often feel unwelcome because of: 1. Unwelcoming parishes; 2. Bureaucratic way of dealing with problems. In many places an administrative approach prevails over a pastoral approach, as does a concentration on administering the sacraments apart from other forms of evangelization.

Secularization: 1. Reduces faith and the Catholic Church to a private and personal sphere; 2. Completely rejects the transcendent; 3. Produces a "growing deterioration of ethics;" 4. Weakens the sense of "personal and collective sin;" 5. Steadily increases relativism; 6. Leads to a "general sense of disorientation," especially among teenagers and young adults going through life's natural changes. All data in our information driven society is treated as equally important.

The Catholic Church is looked up to on many fronts - e.g.: Catholic schools, helping the poor, etc. - Yet, we find it difficult to make people see that when we raise other questions less palatable to public opinion, we are doing so out of fidelity to precisely the same conviction about human dignity and the common good.

The family is the fundamental cell of society....(It is) where we learn to live with others despite our difference and to belong to one another. Today's marriages are looked on as merely for emotional satisfaction which can be constructed in any way or modified at will....the indispensable contributions of marriage to society transcends the feelings and momentary needs of the people. Individualism's lifestyle weakens the development and stability of personal relationships and distorts family bonds.

Our relationship with God demands and encourages a communion which heals, promotes, and reinforces interpersonal bonds.

An evangelized culture ... has many more resources that the mere sum total of believers: 1. It encourages a more just and believing society. 2. It possesses a particular wisdom which ought to be gratefully acknowledged.

Every culture and social group needs purification and growth.

There is a kind of Christianity made up of devotions reflecting an individual and sentimental faith life which does not in fact correspond to authentic popular piety. Many no longer identify with Catholic tradition....The reasons include lack of pastoral care and our difficulty in restoring mystical adherence to the faith.

Isn't it curious that the fullness of humanity and history is realized in a city - the New Jerusalem?.... The struggle for survival in daily life contains within it a profound understanding of life which often includes a deep religious sense.... (Yet) cities create permanent ambivalence because they present many people with any number of obstacles to the full development of their lives....Cities are more often built to isolate and protect than to connect and integrate.

Evangelization in cities has to be flexible

Too many pastoral workers, including nuns, brothers, and priests, have an inordinate concern for the personal freedom and relaxation, which leads them to see their work as a mere appendage to their life. It (their identity as a pastoral worker) should be part of their very identity.... Three evils which fuel each other: 1. Heightened indivdualism; 2. A crisis of identity; 3. A cooling of fervor.

Many pastoral workers...develop a sort of inferiority complex which leads them to relativize or conceal their Christian identity and convictions when faced with attitudes of media and many intellectuals. This leads to a vicious cycle: 1. They are unhappy with themselves; 2. They don't identify with the evangelizing mission; 3. It weakens their commitment. They end up stifling the joy of mission with a kind of obsession about being like everyone else and possessing what everyone else possesses" so evangelization gets very little of their energy and time.

Too many lay people will not help with any of the apostolic work of a parish because it will take away from free time. Some priests are obsessed with protecting their free time. The problem can be activity which is undertaken badly...without a spirituality which would permeate it and make it pleasurable. This makes work more tiring than necessary and can even lead to illness or unbearable fatigue in the end.

Causes of pastoral acedia: 1. Choosing unrealistic projects instead of doing what can reasonably be done; 2. Lack of patience for a project to mature; 3. Attachment to vain dreams of success; 4. Attachment to a few projects; 5. Loss of personal contact so one becomes more concerned with the road map than with the journey; 6. The inability to wait and a desire to dominate the rhythm of life; 7. Today's obsession with immediate results.

The gray pragmatism of daily Church life is that all appears normal while in reality faith is wearing down and degenerating into small mindedness....A tomb psychology develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum. Disillusioned with reality, with the Church, and with themselves, they experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy lacking in hope, which seizes the heart.... Called to radiate light and communicate life, in the end they are caught up in things that generate only darkness and inner weariness.

The gray pragmatism of daily Church life is that all appears normal while in reality faith is wearing down and degenerating into small mindedness....A tomb psychology develops and slowly transforms Christians into mummies in a museum. Disillusioned with reality, with the Church, and with themselves, they experience a constant temptation to cling to a faint melancholy lacking in hope, which seizes the heart.... Called to radiate light and communicate life, in the end they are caught up in things that generate only darkness and inner weariness.

Where sin increases, so does faith.

The fact that we are more realistic must not mean that we trust the Holy Spirit any less or are less generous.

Defeatism turns us into sourpusses....If we start without confidence, we have already lost half the battle and we bury our talents...Defeatism is brother to the temptation to separate, before its time, the wheat from the weeds; it is the fruit of an anxious and self-centered lack of trust."

Much of the world, for various reasons, is a desert for faith, but: 1. The desert is a place of discovery; 2. People of faith are needed in the desert to point the way to the Promised Land; 3. We must be the living source of water for others.

Greater possibilities for communication this turn into greater possibilities for encounter and solidarity for everyone.

To be self-enclosed is to taste the bitter poison of immanence.

There is a "social aspect" of the Gospel which must not be renounced.... Today's Christians tend to hide, or flit from task to task without forming deep, stable bonds....When we are attacked unjustly or met with ingratitude while living in fraternity, we should not tire of our decision, but learn to suffer in the embrace of the crucified Jesus..... All others should be esteemed as "companions along the way."... "Let us not allow ourselves to be robbed of community!"

Christ made flesh summoned us to the revolution of tenderness.

Christ made flesh summoned us to the revolution of tenderness.

A return to the sacred and the spirituality of modern times does not necessarily mean a true return to God even if it rejects atheism.

True Catholicism should not be an escape into a vague spiritual energy; we must always remember it is an encounter with the real, the "fleshy." (Mary, the saints, Christ, etc.)

Spiritual worldliness masquerades as piety and love for the Church, but seeks human glory and personal well-being, not the Lord's glory....It is not always linked to outward sin. There are two sources for this, both of which are "anthropocentric immanentism: 1. Gnosticism, a purely subjective faith, whose only interest is ideas which are meant to console and enlighten, but which ultimately keep one imprisoned in...(one's) own thoughts and feelings. 2. Self-absorbed promethean neo-pelagianlim, in which one trusts only one's own powers and feel(s) superior to others because (one) observe(s) certain rules or remain transigently faithful to a particular Catholic style from the past. This leads to narcissistic and authoritarian elitism: (People who) do not evangelize; they analyze and classify others; (People who) exhaust (their) energies in inspecting and verifying. Neither are really concerned about Christ or others. The real world manifestations of this are: 1. An ostentatious preoccupation (with) liturgy, doctrine, and the Church's prestige, but no real concern for the Gospel's effect on people today; 2. A fascination with social/political gain.; 3. Pride in the ability to manage practical affairs; 4. An obsession with self-help and self-realization programs; 5. A concern to be seen in social life; 6. A business mentality, putting the Church as an institution to the front. All of these lead to closed and elite groups....Evangelical fervor is replaced by the empty pleasure(s) of complacency and indulgence. These are people who would rather be generals of defeated armies instead of privates in fighting ones....They dream up vast apostolic projects or indulge in endless fantasies. The characteristics of these worldly people: 1. They look on from above and afar; 2. They reject other's prophecy; 3. They discredit questioners; 4. They constantly point out the mistakes of others; 5. They are obsessed by appearances; 6. They do not learn from sins and are not genuinely open to forgiveness.... This is tremendous corruption disguised as good and can be avoided by making the Church constantly "go out."

Spiritual worldliness leads to wars among Christians who belong to special cliques instead of the Church as a whole.... The gifts of each belong to all....We are all in the same boat headed to same port so beware of jealousy!"

Those wounded by historical divisions find it difficult to accept...(the) invitation to...reconciliation (because) they think that we are ignoring their pain or are asking them to give up their memory and ideals.

This may be the time to consider a universal basic wage which would acknowledge and dignify the noble, essential tasks you carry out. It would ensure and concretely achieve the ideal, at once so human and so Christian, of no worker without rights.

Praying for someone with whom we are mad is a beautiful step forward in love and an act of evangelization.

Lay ministry is too often not reflected by penetration of Christian culture into every day life. This ministry remains tied to church tasks.

Women need broader opportunities in the (Catholic) church, but the reservation of the priesthood to men is not open to discussion. This is divisive if sacramental power is too closely identified with power in general. The priest is not set above others.

Culture embraces the totality of a people's life; how they relate: To each other; To other Creatures; To God.... The human person is always situated in a culture..... Grace supposes culture....When a community is evangelized, the Holy Spirit enriches its culture.... The different cultures of the church are the jewel bedecked bride.

Unity is never uniformity but a multifaceted and inviting harmony.

We are all always "missionary disciples," not just one or the other. Look at all those in Gospel who encountered Christ and immediately went forth to proclaim Him. At the same time, we should always let others evangelize us so we mature in faith....Mission is a constant stimulus not to remain mired in mediocrity, but to continue growing.

Each culture is the protagonist of its own history.....Culture is a dynamic reality which a people constantly recreates as each generation confronts its own challenges.... Being human means "being at the same time son and father of the culture to which one belongs."

Popular piety is a true expression of the spontaneous missionary activity of the people of God. Per Pope St. Paul VI, popular piety is "a thirst for God which only the poor and simple can know."

Conversational, person to person preaching is everyone's daily responsibility. Being a disciple means being constantly ready to bring the love of Jesus to others....This preaching should always be respectful and gentle and always starts with personal dialogue. A brief prayer afterwards for other's concern is appropriate if prudent and the circumstances are right.

The Church's inculturation is a slow process.

Sign of charisms authenticity (is) its ability to be integrated harmoniously into the life of God's...people for the good of all.

The source of diversity among people and cultures is the Holy Spirit...but at some point He brings about unity....When we...aspire to diversity (without the holy Spirit), we become self-enclosed, exclusive ad divisive....whenever we attempt to create unity on the basis of our human calculations, we end up imposing a monolithic uniformity.

At the very heart of the Gospel is life in community and engagement with others.

Kerygma has an immediate moral implication centered on charity.

God's infinite love confers infinity dignity on all.

Christ redeemed not just individuals, but also the societal relations existing between men.

Our loving response to God should not be simply an accumulation of small personal gestures to individuals in need....We are meant to have an impact on society.

An authentic faith ...is never comfortable or completely personal....(It) always involves a deep desire to change the world, to transmit values, to leave this earth somehow better (than) we found it.

Solidarity is a mindset which thinks in terms of community and the priority of life of all over the appropriation of goods by a few....Dealing with a generalized practice of wastefulness would go long ways towards helping solidarity....Education, health care, and employment above all is what is really needed.

Private property ownership exists to protects and increase goods so that they can better serve the common good.

Human rights can be used as a justification for an inordinate defense of individual rights or the rights of richer people.

Alms giving atones for sin.

Society becomes alienated when its social organization 'make(s) it more difficult to offer the gift of self.'

A person who thinks only about building walls, wherever they may be, and not building bridges, is not Christian. This is not in the Gospel," said Pope Francis of President Trump's policies

When the elderly are not honoured, there is not future for the young. A society where the elderly are discarded carries within it the virus of death.

The poor know Christ's suffering so we need to let them evangelize us.

The Holy Spirit mobilizes attentiveness to others, not an unruly activism.

You are looked upon with suspicion when through community organization you try to move beyond philanthropy or when, instead of resigning and hoping to catch some crumbs that fall from the table of economic power, you claim your rights. You often feel rage and powerlessness at the sight of persistent inequalities and when any excuse at all is sufficient for maintaining those privileges. Nevertheless, you do not resign yourselves to complaining: you roll up your sleeves and keep working for your families, your communities, and the common good.

Politics...remains a lofty vocation and on of the highest forms of charity, inasmuch as it seeks the common good.

Welfare projects are only temporary responses to poverty....Inequality is the root of social ills. We must reject autonomy of markets....The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies....Business is a vocation and can be a noble one....We can no longer trust in the unseen forces and the invisible hand of the market. Growth in justice requires more than economic growth, while presupposing such growth: it requires decisions, programs, mechanisms and processes specifically geared to a better distribution of income, the creation of sources of employment and an integral promotion of the poor which goes beyond a simple welfare mentality.... Economic decisions by government must be made as part of fitting management of world as a whole.

“Sacred Scripture attests that God bestowed his Spirit upon human beings so that they might have ‘skill and understanding and knowledge in every craft’ (Ex 35:31)”.[1] Science and technology are therefore brilliant products of the creative potential of human beings.[2] Indeed, artificial intelligence arises precisely from the use of this God-given creative potential.

In this regard, perhaps we could start from the observation that artificial intelligence is above all else a tool. And it goes without saying that the benefits or harm it will bring will depend on its use. This is surely the case, for it has been this way with every tool fashioned by human beings since the dawn of time.

It should also be noted that the use of applications similar to the one I have just mentioned will be used ever more frequently due to the fact that artificial intelligence programs will be increasingly equipped with the capacity to interact directly (chatbots) with human beings, holding conversations and establishing close relationships with them. These interactions may end up being, more often than not, pleasant and reassuring, since these artificial intelligence programs will be designed to learn to respond, in a personalised way, to the physical and psychological needs of human beings. It is a frequent and serious mistake to forget that artificial intelligence is not another human being, and that it cannot propose general principles.

Rather than being “generative”, then, it is instead “reinforcing” in the sense that it rearranges existing content, helping to consolidate it, often without checking whether it contains errors or preconceptions. In this way, it not only runs the risk of legitimising fake news and strengthening a dominant culture’s advantage, but, in short, it also undermines the educational process itself. Education should provide students with the possibility of authentic reflection, yet it runs the risk of being reduced to a repetition of notions, which will increasingly be evaluated as unobjectionable, simply because of their constant repetition.[

Nothing in nature lives for itself. The rivers do not drink their own water; the trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is...Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you.

Nothing in nature lives for itself. The rivers do not drink their own water; the trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is...Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you. ⁠— Pope Francis

We should personally encounter Christ each day or be open to letting Him encounter us.

Practical relativism is more dangerous than doctrinal relativism....It leads to actions that others - the poor, the unevangelized, etc. - don't exist.

Spiritual life is identified with a few religious exercises - these offer comfort but don't encourage encounter with others...or a passion for evangelization....Prayer is not enough.

I hope that this time of danger will free us from operating on automatic pilot, shake our sleepy consciences and allow a humanist and ecological conversion that puts an end to the idolatry of money and places human life and dignity at the centre. Our civilization — so competitive, so individualistic, with its frenetic rhythms of production and consumption, its extravagant luxuries, its disproportionate profits for just a few — needs to downshift, take stock, and renew itself.

Nothing in nature lives for itself. The rivers do not drink their own water; the trees do not eat their own fruit; the sun does not shine on itself and flowers do not spread their fragrance for themselves. Living for others is a rule of nature. We are all born to help each other. No matter how difficult it is...Life is good when you are happy; but much better when others are happy because of you. ⁠— Pope Francis