“May Our Lord Jesus Christ bless and protect them, and may the prayers of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St. Joseph intercede for them.”
— Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster, England, in a statement of congratulations to Prince William and his wife Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, on the birth July 22 of their first son, George Alexander Louis, who is third in line for the British throne
“If someone tells you, ‘Go home, you’re not needed,’ that’s not true. No one is useless in the Church. We are all needed to build this temple.”
— Pope Francis, speaking to an estimated 50,000 people at his weekly general audience June 26
“Let’s try something today. We all have those we like and those we don’t like so much. Perhaps many of us are angry with someone. Let’s say to the Lord, ‘I am angry with this person and that one. I pray for him and for her.’”
— Pope Francis, at his weekly general audience June 12
“Jesus speaks in the silence of the mystery of the Eucharist and reminds us each time that following him means going out of ourselves and making our lives not something we ‘possess,’ but a gift to him and to others.”
— Pope Francis, in his homily at Mass May 30
“We want to put the missionary Gospel in the pockets of every young person around the world.”
— Oblate Father Andrew Small, national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in the United States, speaking May 17 to Pope Francis about the society’s new Missio app that offers news and information in English and several other languages
“This is a courageous step toward a culture of life.”
— Bishop Stephen Blaire of Stockton, Calif., chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, after Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed a bill May 2 repealing the state’s death penalty
When you read this letter, you will have washed the feet of other kids like [us]. I am writing this letter because you give me hope. I know one day with people like you, us kids won’t be given sentences that will keep us in prison for the rest of our lives. I pray for you. Don’t forget us.”
“Francis of Assisi tells us we should work to build peace. But there is no peace without truth! There cannot be true peace if everyone is his own criterion, if everyone can always claim exclusively his own rights, without at the same time caring for the good of others, of everyone, on the basis of the nature that unites every human being on this earth.”
— Pope Francis, speaking March 22 to the Vatican diplomatic corps
“This is beautiful. This is the most loving experience, how an election should be. I wish all the elections in the world could be like that: in an atmosphere of prayer.”
— Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga of Tegucigalpa, who was part of the 2005 conclave that elected Pope Benedict XVI, describing the atmosphere of a conclave
“Moving from one crisis to another has slowed economic recovery and has kept Congress from finding a sound, moral path to fiscal sustainability. Other important issues go unaddressed, all the increasing cynicism about our political process. Congress’ actions should not provoke serious economic setback or push more people into poverty.”
“Faith and reason are like two people who love each other deeply, who cannot live without each other, and who were intimately made for one another, so much so that they cannot be considered separate from one another and cannot reach their goals separately.”
— Archbishop Gerhard L. Muller, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and coordinator of a project to publish the complete works of Joseph Ratzinger-Pope Benedict XVI, on Jan. 11 highlighting a key teaching of the pope that faith and reason go hand in hand
