Benedict XVI Quotations

I am certain that I echo your own thoughts when I bring up as one of our concerns the spread of terrorism.

But its ultimate roots can be seen as moral and spiritual; they are linked to a disturbing deficit of faith, hope and, indeed, love.

We will receive the pilgrim Cross, coming from Cologne, and remember with grateful hearts, a year after his death, my great predecessor, John Paul II.

I share your concern and therefore invite the faithful to place the sacrament of matrimony at the center of their family life.

The service that may be offered to the faithful and non-Christian spouses who are going through difficulties would be misleading if one encouraged in them, even if only implicitly, the tendency to forget the indissolubility of the union itself. In this way, the possible intervention of the ecclesiastical institution in the causes of annulment would run the risk of becoming a simple proof of a failure.

These children have suffered a most violent trauma. We must help them to be able to forget the tragedy so that they will be witnesses of peace for the future of humanity.

To welcome the Redeemer in his life is for man a source of profound joy, a joy that can give peace even in times of trial. Be, therefore, servants of Truth to take the joy that God wants to give every man.

Precisely for this reason, St. Ignatius wanted young Jesuits to be formed for long years in the spiritual life and in studies.

His illness, which he faced with courage, made us all aware of human pain, of every physical and spiritual pain; he gave suffering dignity and value, showing that man isn't just worthy because of his efficiency and how he appears, but because of himself, because he is created and loved by God.

And his presence in the community, in which he himself always gives himself, is the reason for our joy. Yes, Christ is with us, the Kingdom of God is coming.

This unbounded and almost incomprehensible love of God for man shows to what point the human person is worthy of being loved for himself, regardless of any other consideration -- intelligence, beauty, health, youth, integrity, etc..