12. “The Father does not love us any less than he loves his only-begotten Son. In other words, with an infinite love. God does not love less, because he loves first, from the very beginning!” (Mass for the Jubilee of Families).
13. “To believe in him and to be his disciples means allowing ourselves to be changed and to take on his same feelings. It means learning to have a heart that is moved, eyes that see and do not look away, hands that help others and soothe their wounds, shoulders that bear the burden of those in need” (Mass at Castel Gandolfo).
14. “Brothers and sisters, today we need this ‘revolution of love’” (Mass at Castel Gandolfo).
15. “God’s love is so great that Jesus does not keep even his mother for himself, giving Mary to us as our mother, in the hour of the cross” (Homily at Castel Gandolfo with the Italian Carabinieri).
16. “If we deny the love that has generated us, if by betraying we become unfaithful to ourselves, then we truly lose the meaning of our coming into the world, and we exclude ourselves from salvation. And yet, precisely there, at the darkest point, the light is not extinguished. On the contrary, it starts to shine. Because if we recognize our limit, if we let ourselves be touched by the pain of Christ, then we can finally be born again” (Catechesis on betrayal).
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17. “Faith does not spare us from the possibility of sin, but it always offers us a way out of it: that of mercy” (Catechesis on betrayal).
18. “Jesus is not scandalized by our fragility. He knows well that no friendship is immune from the risk of betrayal. But Jesus continues to trust. He continues to sit at the table with his followers. He does not give up breaking bread, even for those who will betray him. This is the silent power of God: He never abandons the table of love, even when he knows he will be left alone” (Catechesis on betrayal).
The family
19. “One of the most wonderful expressions of the love of God is the love that is poured out by mothers, especially to their children and grandchildren” (Homily in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica).
20. “And you, dear children, show gratitude to your parents: Saying ‘thank you’ each day for the gift of life and for all that comes with it is the first way to honor your father and your mother” (Mass for the Jubilee of Families).
21. “In the family, faith is handed on together with life, generation after generation. It is shared like food at the family table and like the love in our hearts. In this way, families become privileged places in which to encounter Jesus, who loves us and desires our good, always” (Mass for the Jubilee of Families).
22. “Our affection for our loved ones — for the wife or husband with whom we have spent so much of our lives, for our children, for our grandchildren who brighten our days — does not fade when our strength wanes. Indeed, their own affection often revives our energy and brings us hope and comfort” (Message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly).
23. “It is the responsibility of government leaders to work to build harmonious and peaceful civil societies. This can be achieved above all by investing in the family, founded upon the stable union between a man and a woman” (Audience with the diplomatic corps).
The grace of the Holy Spirit
24. “The Holy Spirit comes to challenge us, to make us confront the possibility that our lives are shriveling up, trapped in the vortex of individualism” (Mass on the solemnity of Pentecost).
25. “The Spirit of God allows us to find a new way of approaching and experiencing life. He puts us in touch with our inmost self, beneath all the masks we wear. He leads us to an encounter with the Lord by teaching us to experience the joy that is his gift” (Mass on the solemnity of Pentecost).
Christ the Eucharist and the Church
26. “All the fruitfulness of the Church and of the Holy See depends on the cross of Christ. Otherwise, it is only appearance, if not worse” (Homily on the Jubilee of the Holy See).
27. “Christ is God’s answer to our human hunger, because his body is the bread of eternal life: Take this and eat of it, all of you!” (Homily on the solemnity of Corpus Christi).
28. “When we partake of Jesus, the living and true bread, we live for him. By offering himself completely, the crucified and risen Lord delivers himself into our hands, and we realize that we were made to partake of God” (Homily on the solemnity of Corpus Christi).
29. “The life of the Church and of the world, indeed, can only be understood in the succession of generations, and embracing an elderly person helps us understand that history is not exhausted in the present, nor is it consummated amid fleeting encounters and fragmentary relationships, but rather opens the way toward the future” (Message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly).
30. “Unity in the Church and among the Churches, dear sisters and brothers, is fostered by forgiveness and mutual trust” (Solemnity of Sts. Peter and Paul).
The priesthood
31. “The priestly ministry is one of sanctification and reconciliation for the building up of the body of Christ in unity” (Jubilee for Priests).
32. “All too often, today’s world offers models of success and prestige that are dubious and short-lived. Do not let yourselves be taken in by them! Look rather to the solid example and apostolic fruitfulness, frequently hidden and unassuming, of those who, with faith and dedication, have spent their lives in service of the Lord and their brothers and sisters. Keep their memory alive by your own example of fidelity” (Jubilee for Priests).
33. “Let us make an effort, then, to turn our differences into a workshop of unity and communion, of fraternity and reconciliation, so that everyone in the Church, each with his or her personal history, may learn to walk side by side” (Mass and blessing of the pallium of the new archbishops).
34. “We should pray for the conversion of the many people, inside and outside the Church, who do not yet recognize the urgent need to care for our common home” (Mass for the Care of Creation).
35. “While it is important that we live our faith in concrete actions and fidelity to our duties, according to each individual’s state and vocation, it is also essential that we do so by starting from meditation on the word of God and by paying attention to what the Spirit suggests to our hearts, reserving, for this purpose, moments of silence, moments of prayer, times in which, silencing noise and distractions, we place ourselves before him and achieve unity within ourselves” (Mass at Albano).
Young people
36. “Dear young people, Jesus is our hope ... Aspire to great things, to holiness, wherever you are. Do not settle for less. You will then see the light of the Gospel growing every day, in you and around you” (Mass for the Jubilee of Young People).
37. “And to young people, I say: ‘Do not be afraid! Accept the invitation of the Church and of Christ the Lord!’” (The pope’s first Regina Caeli).
38. “You are the salt of the earth … You are the light of the world. And today your voices, your enthusiasm, your cries — which are all for Jesus Christ — will be heard to the ends of the earth” (Words of the pope at the inauguration Mass of the Jubilee of Young People).
Hope
39. “Amid life’s trials, our hope is inspired by the firm and reassuring certainty of God’s love, poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit. That hope does not disappoint” (Message from the World Day of the Poor).
40. “By recognizing that God is our first and only hope, we too pass from fleeting hopes to a lasting hope. Once we desire that God accompany us on the journey of life, material wealth becomes relativized, for we discover the real treasure that we need” (Message from the World Day of the Poor).
41. “In a world darkened by war and injustice, even when all seems lost, migrants and refugees stand as messengers of hope. Their courage and tenacity bear heroic testimony to a faith that sees beyond what our eyes can see and gives them the strength to defy death on the various contemporary migration routes” (World Day of Migrants Message).
Self-giving and love of neighbor
42. “The practice of worship does not automatically lead to being compassionate” (Catechesis at the general audience).
43. “Let us ask the Lord for the gift of understanding where our life is stuck. Let us try to give voice to our desire to be healed” (Catechesis on the healing of the paralytic).
44. “Every gesture of willingness, every gratuitous act, every forgiveness given in advance, every effort patiently accepted, is a way to prepare a place where God can dwell” (Catechesis on the preparation of the Passover meal).
45. “Be agents of communion, capable of breaking down the logic of division and polarization, of individualism and egocentrism. Center yourselves on Christ, so as to overcome the logic of the world, of fake news, of frivolity, with the beauty and light of truth” (Jubilee of Digital Influencers and Missionaries).
The meaning of life
46. “A very widespread ailment of our time is the fatigue of living: Reality seems to us to be too complex, burdensome, difficult to face. And so we switch off, we fall asleep, in the delusion that, upon waking, things will be different. But reality has to be faced, and together with Jesus, we can do it well” (Catechesis on the woman with hemorrhages and Jairus’ daughter).
47. “It is very important to listen to the voice of the Lord, to listen to it, in this dialogue, and to see where the Lord is calling us towards” (Homily in the Crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica).
48. “At the root of every vocation, God is present, in his mercy and his goodness, as generous as that of a mother” (Homily at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls).
49. “The fullness of our existence does not depend on what we store up or, as we heard in the Gospel, on what we possess. Rather, fullness has to do with what we joyfully welcome and share” (Mass for the Jubilee of Young People).
50. “I am an Augustinian, a son of St. Augustine, who once said: ‘With you I am a Christian, and for you I am a bishop.’ In this sense, all of us can journey together toward the homeland that God has prepared for us” (First greeting after being elected).
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
Almudena Martínez-Bordiú is Rome correspondent for ACI Prensa and EWTN.
