I would designate as science fiction in the best sense: they are visions and anticipations by which we seek to attain a true knowledge, but, in fact, they are only imaginations whereby we seek to draw near to the reality. – Pope Benedict XVI
How much we need, in the church and in society, witnesses of the beauty of holiness, witnesses of the splendour of truth, witnesses of the joy and freedom born of a living relationship with Christ! – Pope Benedict XVI
Dear brothers and sisters, after the great Pope John Paul II, the cardinals have elected me – a simple, humble worker in the vineyard of the Lord. – Pope Benedict XVI
The Church is not self-made, it was created by God and is continuously formed by Him. This finds expression in the Sacraments, above all in that of Baptism: I enter into the Church not by a bureaucratic act, but with the help of this Sacrament. – Pope Benedict XVI
Today, I, too, wish to reaffirm that I intend to continue on the path toward improved relations and friendship with the Jewish people, following the decisive lead given by John Paul II. – Pope Benedict XVI
We can learn from him that suffering and the gift of himself is an essential gift we need in our time. – Pope Benedict XVI
Today we have to learn all over again that love for the sinner and love for the person who has been harmed are correctly balanced if I punish the sinner in the form that is possible and appropriate. – Pope Benedict XVI
The real ‘action’ in the liturgy in which we are all supposed to participate is the action of God himself. This is what is new and distinctive about the Christian liturgy: God himself acts and does what is essential. – Pope Benedict XVI
To me, it really seems visible today that ethics is not something exterior to the economy, which, as technical matter, could function on its own; rather, ethics is an interior principle of the economy itself, which cannot function if it does not take account of the human values of solidarity and reciprocal responsibility. – Pope Benedict XVI
There are those who argue that the public celebration of festivals such as Christmas should be discouraged, in the questionable belief that it might somehow offend those of other religions or none. – Pope Benedict XVI
Every State has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises, whether natural or man-made. – Pope Benedict XVI
It is absolutely important to make accessible the Gospel for all people and also understandable for Jewish people. – Pope Benedict XVI
I would like everyone to feel loved by the God who gave his son for us and showed us his boundless love. I want everyone to feel the joy of being Christian. – Pope Benedict XVI
A just laicism allows religious freedom. The state does not impose religion but rather gives space to religions with a responsibility toward civil society, and therefore it allows these religions to be factors in building up society. – Pope Benedict XVI
Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church is often labeled today as fundamentalism. Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and swept along by every wind of teaching, look like the only attitude acceptable to today’s standards. – Pope Benedict XVI
Art is elemental. Reason alone as it’s expressed in the sciences can’t be man’s complete answer to reality, and it can’t express everything that man can, wants to, and has to express. I think God built this into man. Art along with science is the highest gift God has given him. – Pope Benedict XVI
There are those who would advocate that the voice of religion be silenced, or at least relegated to the purely private sphere. – Pope Benedict XVI
Liberty isn’t liberalism, arbitrariness, but it’s connected; it’s conditioned by the great values of love and solidarity and in general by the good. – Pope Benedict XVI
The new pope knows that his task is to make the light of Christ shine before men and women of world – not his own light, but that of Christ. – Pope Benedict XVI
Our Earth is talking to us, and we must listen to it and decipher its message if we want to survive. – Pope Benedict XVI
The prevailing mentality was that the Church must not be a Church of laws but, rather, a Church of love; she must not punish. Thus, the awareness that punishment can be an act of love ceased to exist. This led to an odd darkening of the mind, even in very good people. – Pope Benedict XVI
The Church must actualize, be present in the public debate, in our struggle for a true concept of liberty and peace. – Pope Benedict XVI
In the harshness of the world of technology – in which feelings do not count anymore – the hope for a saving love grows, a love which would be given freely and generously. – Pope Benedict XVI
Prudence does not mean failing to accept responsibilities and postponing decisions; it means being committed to making joint decisions after pondering responsibly the road to be taken. – Pope Benedict XVI
I wrote the text of the resignation. I cannot say with precision when, but at the most two weeks before. I wrote it in Latin because something so important you do in Latin. Furthermore, Latin is a language in which I know well how to write in a more appropriate way. – Pope Benedict XVI
On the one hand, faith is a profoundly personal contact with God, which touches me in my innermost being and places me in front of the living God in absolute immediacy in such a way that I can speak with Him, love Him, and enter into communion with Him. – Pope Benedict XVI
God does not change; he is Love, ever and always. In himself, he is communion, unity in Trinity, and all his words and works are directed to communion. – Pope Benedict XVI