Pope Francis Quotes

“To put it simply: the Holy Spirit bothers us. Because he moves us, he makes us walk, he pushes the Church to go forward. And we are like Peter at the Transfiguration: 'Ah, how wonderful it is to be here like this, all together!' ... But don't bother us. We want the Holy Spirit to doze off ... we want to domesticate the Holy Spirit. And that's no good. because he is God, he is that wind which comes and goes and you don't know where. He is the power of God, he is the one who gives us consolation and strength to move forward. But: to move forward! And this bothers us. It's so much nicer to be comfortable.”
― Pope Francis, Encountering Truth: Meeting God in the Everyday

“We need to let ourselves be evangelized by the poor. They have much to teach us.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“As religious leaders, we are called to be true "people of dialogue," to cooperate in building peace not as intermediaries but as authentic mediators. Intermediaries seek to give everyone a discount ultimately in order to gain something for themselves. However, the mediator is one who retains nothing for himself but rather spends himself generously until he is consumed, knowing that the only gain is peace. Each one of us is called to be an artisan of peace, by uniting and not dividing, by extinguishing hatred and not holding on to it, by opening paths to dialogue and not by constructing new walls! Let us dialogue and meet one another in order to establish a culture of dialogue in the world, a culture of encounter.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“Jesus no longer belongs to the past but lives in the present and is projected toward the future; Jesus is the everlasting "today" of God. This is how the newness of God appears to the women, the disciples, and all of us: as victory over sin, evil, and death - over everything that crushes life and makes it seem less human. And this is a message meant for me and for you, dear sister, you, dear brother. How often does Love have to tell us, "Why do you look for the living among the dead?" Our daily problems and worries can wrap us up in ourselves, in sadness and bitterness...and that is where death is. That is not the place to look for the One who is alive!”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“We cannot become starched Christians, those overeducated Christians who speak of theological matters as they calmly sip their tea. No! We must become courageous Christians and go in search of the people who are the very flesh of Christ! ... This is the [issue]: the flesh of Christ, touching the flesh of Christ, taking upon ourselves this suffering for the poor.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“Mary was able to turn a stable into a home for Jesus, with poor swaddling clothes and an abundance of love. She is the handmaid of the Father who sings his praises. She is the friend who is ever concerned that wine not be lacking in our lives. She is the woman whose heart was pierced by a sword and who understands all our pain.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“Now, celebrations become tiring because they unfold in noisy chattering. The liturgy is sick. The most striking symptom of this sickness is perhaps the omnipresence of the microphone. It has become so indispensable that one wonders how priests were able to celebrate before it was invented.”
― Robert Sarah, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

“Will we let ourselves become a Church that calls and welcomes sinners with open arms, that gives courage and hope, or are we a Church closed in on herself? Are we a Church where the love of God dwells, where one cares for the other, where one prays for the other?
A final question: what can I, a weak fragile sinner, do? God says to you, Do not be afraid of holiness; do not be afraid to aim high, to let yourself be loved and purified by God; do not be afraid to let yourself be guided by the Holy Spirit. Let us be infected by the holiness of God. Every Christian is called to sanctity...; and sanctity does not consist especially in doing extraordinary things, but in allowing God to act. It is the meeting of our weakness with the strength of his grace, it is saving faith in his action that allows us to live in charity, to do everything with joy and humility, for the glory of God and as a service to our neighbor.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“This blessed place brings us back to our origins. We seem to have returned home.”
― Pope Francis

“Politicians and figureheads bank on the amnesia of the ignorant.”
― Darnell Lamont Walker

“A child deserves to be born of that love, and not by any other means, for “he or she is not something owed to one, but is a gift”, which is “the fruit of the specific act of the conjugal love of the parents”. This is the case because, “according to the order of creation, conjugal love between a man and a woman, and the transmission of life are ordered to each other (cf. Gen 1:27-28). Thus the Creator made man and woman share in the work of his creation and, at the same time, made them instruments of his love, entrusting to them the responsibility for the future of mankind, through the transmission of human life”.”
― Pope Francis, Amoris Laetitia: Apostolic Exhortation on the Family

“There is a Marian "style" to the Church's work of evangelization. Whenever we look to Mary, we come to believe once again in the revolutionary nature of love and tenderness. in her we see that humility and tenderness ar enot virtues of the weak but of the strong, who need not treat others poorly in order to feel important themselves. Contemplating Mary, we realize that she who praised God for "bringing down the mighty from their thrones" and "sending the rich away empty" (Luke 1:52-53) is also the one who brings a homely warmth to our pursuit of justice. She is also the one who carefully keeps "all these things, pondering them in heart" (Luke 2:19).
Mary is able to recognize the traces of God's Spirit in events great and small. She constantly contemplates the mystery of God in our world, in human history, and in our daily lives. She is the woman of prayer and work in Nazareth, and she is also Our Lady of Help, who sets out from her town "with haste" (Luke 1:39) to be of service to others. This interplay of justice and tenderness, of contemplation and concern for others, is what makes the ecclesial community look to Mary as a model of evangelization.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“The light of love proper to faith can illumine the question of our own time-concerning truth. Truth, nowadays, is often reduced to the subjective authenticity of the individual, valid only to the life of the individual. A common truth intimidates us, for we identify it with the intransigent demands of totalitarian systems. But if truth is a truth of love, if it is a truth disclosed in personal encounter with the Other and with others, then it can be set free from its enclosure in individuals and become part of the common good. As a truth of love, it is not one that can be imposed by force; it is not a truth that stifles the individual. Since it is born of love, it can penetrate to the heart, to the personal core of each man and woman. Clearly, then, faith is not intransigent but grows in respectful coexistences with others. One who believes may not be presumptuous; on the contrary, truth leads to humility, because believers know that, rather than ourselves possessing truth, it is truth that embraces and possesses us. Far from making us inflexible, the security of faith sets us on a journey; it enables witness and dialogue with all.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“For the Church, the option for the poor is primarily a theological category rather than a cultural, sociological, political, or philosophical one. God shows the poor "his first mercy." This divine preference has consequences for the faith life of all Christians, because we are called to have "this mind...which was in Jesus Christ" (Phil. 2:5). Inspired by this, the Church has made an option for the poor, which is understood as a "special form of primacy in the exercise of Christian charity, to which the whole tradition of the Church bears witness." This option - as Benedict XVI has taught - "is implicit in our Christian faith in a God who became poor for us, so as to enrich us with his poverty." This is why I want a Church that is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them. The new evangelization is an invitation to acknowledge the saving power at work in their lives and to put them at the center of the Church's pilgrim way. We are called to find Christ in them, to lend our voice to their causes, but also to be their friends, to listen to them, to speak for them, and to embrace the mysterious wisdom that God wishes to share with us through them.”
― Pope Francis, The Church of Mercy

“Christ is certainly distressed to see and to hear priests and bishops, who ought to be protecting the integrity of the teaching of the Gospel and of doctrine, multiply words and writings that weaken the rigor of the Gospel by their deliberately ambiguous, confused statements.”
― Robert Sarah, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

“But here is my hope: God willing, when he wills and as he wills, the reform of the reform will take place in the liturgy. Despite the gnashing of teeth, it will happen, for the future of the Church is at stake. To ruin the liturgy is to ruin our relationship to God and the concrete expression of our Christian faith.”
― Robert Sarah, The Power of Silence: Against the Dictatorship of Noise

“On 28 February 2013, the unimaginable happened: Pope Benedict XVI resigned the papacy and flew off in a helicopter as the world watched, baffled. Benedict was the first pope to resign since Pope Gregory XII in 1415, almost 598 years before.”
― Dr. Taylor Reed Marshall, Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within

“many faithful have concluded that Pope Benedict remains pope and that Pope Francis is an antipope without the charism and protection of the papacy.”
― Dr. Taylor Reed Marshall, Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within

“Pope Francis actually holds the Eastern Orthodox position on the papacy, collegiality, divorce, and the “pastoral” notion of economia revamped as being true to conscience.”
― Taylor R. Marshall, Infiltration: The Plot to Destroy the Church from Within

“There were plenty of men who had received the Papacy and weren’t worthy of it. There were men such as Stephen VI, Benedict IX, John XII, Clement V, Sixtus IV, Leo X, Alexander VI, and others. These were men who had taken the throne of Saint Peter and turned it into a couch of corruption, greed, dissipation, blood, violence, incest, and heresy.”
― Robert Chad Canter, The Shadow Angel: Genesis

“In the years that have been spent learning about my Catholic faith, I have learned many things. One of the things that I’ve learned is that there are two kinds of evil people. There are people who do evil, and there are people who see evil being done and do nothing about it.
I have also learned that not all saints are popes, and not all popes are saints.”
― Robert Chad Canter, The Shadow Angel: Night of the Meta-Men

“Hostility, extremism and violence are not born of a religious heart: they are betrayals of religion. We believers cannot be silent when terrorism abuses religion; indeed, we are called unambiguously to dispel all misunderstandings”
― Pope Francis

“The greatest blasphemy is to profane” God’s name “by hating our brothers and sisters”
― Pope Francis

“Dear Alessio, yes, I was an altar boy. And you? What part among the altar boys do you have? It’s easier to do now, you know: You might know that, when I was a kid, Mass was celebrated different than today. Back then, the priest faced the altar, which was next to the wall, and not the people. Then the book with which he said the Mass, the missal, was placed on the right side of the altar. But before reading of the Gospel it always had to be moved to the left side. That was my job: to carry it from right to left. It was exhausting! The book was heavy! I picked it up with all my energy but I wasn’t so strong; I picked it up once and fell down, so the priest had to help me. Some job I did! The Mass wasn’t in Italian then. The priest spoke but I didn’t understand anything. and neither did my friends. So for fun we’d do imitations of the priest, messing up the words a bit to make up weird sayings in Spanish. We had fun, and we really enjoyed serving Mass.”
― Pope Francis, Dear Pope Francis: The Pope Answers Letters from Children Around the World

“Every day, saline was pumped through his body to clean out his pleura and scar tissue. A chest tube was connected to a drainage system, producing a trickle of water. The pain was enormous.
Bergoglio didn’t care for the usual platitudes that people kept telling him, things like “This will pass” or “Won’t it be nice when you’re back home?” But one visitor broke away from the clichés and truly comforted him.
It was a nun whom he had remembered ever since she had prepared him to receive his First Communion, Sister Dolores. “She said something that truly stuck with me and made me feel at peace. ‘You are imitating Christ,’” he recalled.”
― Sergio Rubín, Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words

“Incidentally, do you ever think of your own death?

For a while now it’s been a daily companion of mine.

Why is that?

I’m over seventy years old and the thread of life I have left on the reel isn’t long. I’m not going to live another seventy, and I’m starting to consider the fact that I have to leave everything behind. But I take it as something that’s normal. I’m not sad. It makes me want to be fair with everyone always, to sign the final flourish. Mind you, it’s never occurred to me to make a will. But death is in my thoughts every day.”
― Sergio Rubín, Pope Francis: Conversations with Jorge Bergoglio: His Life in His Own Words

“Sonnet for Francis

When the queen kicked the bucket,
I felt zero loss - unless they go out of their way,
to make amends, like did real Queen Diana,
the entire bucking(ham) bunch are irrelevant.

However, upon the passing of Francis,
I do feel a certain loss, mainly because,
despite being the head of an atrocious church,
he had the potential for growth and tolerance.

Not everyone is in the position to be
outspoken against all inhumanities,
but if you have the guts to call out even some,
you have a life-long friend in me.

I cherish every human who shows
even the slightest trace of inclusivity,
as strongly as I feel resigned towards any ape
that thrives on prejudice disguised as piety.”
― Abhijit Naskar, The God Sonnets: Naskar Art of Theology

“Peace and humanity in your eyes
Dedicated to Pope Francis

To those who are on the margins of society
Your blessing gave support
In the sweet glow of the sun's rays
I saw the humanity in your eyes
Your breath still flows in my mind
To those who were marginalised and favoured
Your blessing gave support
In the starry glow of the wide sky
I saw peace in your eyes
Your heart still beats in my heart
And your mercy is deep within me”
― Kristian Goldmund Aumann

“How do we act in contexts of tribal division when our politics, our society, our media seem at times to be one long shouting match, in which opponents seek to “cancel” each other in a game of power?”
― Pope Francis

“When someone says that I'm a papa villero, I pray only that I might always be worthy of it.”
― Pope Francis, Hope: The Autobiography