Pope Benedict XVI quotes - page 3

Reason always stands in need of being purified by faith: this also holds true for political reason, which must not consider itself omnipotent. For its part, religion always needs to be purified by reason in order to show its authentically human face. Any breach in this dialogue comes only at an enormous price to human development. (Pope Benedict XVI)
Uncertainty over working conditions caused by mobility and deregulation, when it becomes endemic, tends to create new forms of psychological instability, giving rise to difficulty in forging coherent life-plans, including that of marriage. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Charity without faith is meaningless, and faith without charity remains a dead letter. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
In the Church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offenses among priests is not higher than in other categories, and perhaps it is even lower. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Deeper understanding of the matter is bound to recognize that the Temple, as well as the synagogue, entered into Christian liturgy. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Among the fundamental values linked to women's actual lives is what has been called a 'capacity for the other.' Although a certain type of feminist rhetoric makes demands 'for ourselves,' women preserve the deep intuition of the goodness in their lives of those actions which elicit life, and contribute to the growth and protection of the other.... But, in the final analysis, every human being, man or woman, is destined to be 'for the other.'... Therefore, the promotion of women within society must be understood and desired as a humanization accomplished through those values, rediscovered thanks to women. Every outlook which presents itself as a conflict between the sexes is only an illusion and a danger; it would end in segregation and competition between men and women, and would promote a solipsism nourished by a false conception of freedom. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Material possessions in themselves are good. We would not survive for long without money, clothing, shelter and food. Yet if we refuse to share what we have with the hungry and the poor, we make of our possessions a false god. How many voices in our materialist society tell us that happiness is to be found by acquiring as many possessions and luxuries as we can! But this is to make possessions into a false god. Instead of bringing life, they bring death. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
While they are growing up, the young need adults who can suggest principles and values to them. They feel in need of people who can teach by their example, more than by their words, to expend themselves for high ideals. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Every economic decision has a moral consequence. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
There is something sinister that stems from the fact that freedom and tolerance are so often separated from truth. This is fuelled by the notion, widely held today, that there are no absolute truths to guide our lives. Relativism, by indiscriminately giving value to practically everything, has made 'experience' all-important. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
If the divorced are remarried civilly, they find themselves in a situation that objectively contravenes God's law. Consequently, they cannot receive Holy Communion as long as this situation persists. This norm is not at all a punishment or a discrimination against the divorced and remarried, but rather expresses an objective situation that of itself renders impossible the reception of Holy Communion: '... If these people were admitted to the Eucharist, the faithful would be led into error and confusion regarding the Church's teaching about the indissolubility of marriage. (Pope Benedict XVI)
The time has come for me to say good-bye-or better, 'arrivederci!'. World Youth Day 2011 will take place in Madrid, Spain. Until then, let us continue to pray for one another, and let us joyfully bear witness to Christ before the world. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Pray for me, that I may not flee for fear of the wolves. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
The market does not exist in the pure state. It is shaped by the cultural configurations which define it and give it direction. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Projects for integral human development cannot ignore coming generations, but need to be marked by solidarity and inter-generational justice. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Christianity is not a highly complicated collection of so many dogmas that it is impossible for anyone to know them all; it is not something exclusively for academicians who can study these things, but it is something simple: God exists and God is close in Jesus Christ. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
I would not like to use big words to apply generic labels. It certainly contains elements that can favor peace, it also has other elements: we must always seek the best elements. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
One must not fear truth, because it is a friend of man and of his freedom. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
The Holy Spirit! This is the Spirit's role: to bring Christ's work to fulfillment. Enriched with the Spirit's gifts, you will have the power to move beyond the piecemeal, the hollow utopia, the fleeting, to offer the consistency and certainty of Christian witness! View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Unlimited trust should only be placed in the real Word of the Revelation that we encounter in the faith transmitted by the Church. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Men and women were created to be jointly the guarantee of the future of the humanity - not only a physical guarantee, but also a moral one. (Pope Benedict XVI)
I think the essential point is a weakness of faith. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
Unspontaneity is of their essence. In these rites I discover that something is approaching me here that I did not produce myself, that I am entering into something greater than myself, which ultimately derives from divine revelation. This is why the Christian East calls the liturgy the "Divine Liturgy", expressing thereby the liturgy's independence from human control. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
[R]eason and faith can come to each other's assistance. Only together will they save man. Entranced by an exclusive reliance on technology, reason without faith is doomed to flounder in an illusion of its own omnipotence. Faith without reason risks being cut off from everyday life. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI
As the trend in the ballots slowly made me realize that - in a manner of speaking the guillotine would fall on me - I started to feel quite dizzy. I thought that I had done my life's work and could now hope to live out my days in peace. I told the Lord with deep conviction, 'Don't do this to me. You have younger and better (candidates) who could take up this great task with a totally different energy and with different strength. View quote
Pope Benedict XVI