Benoît XVI citations (127 citations, Page 3)

français
Dialogue sur le christianisme et l’islam, que le savant empereur byzantin Manuel II Paléologue mena avec un érudit perse, en 1391 à Ankara
Discours, Sur la foi et la violence

âme , nature , rapports , pensée

“La volonté de profiter pleinement dès à présent du monde et de ce qu'offre la vie, de chercher le ciel ici-bas sans se laisser arrêter par le moindre scrupule. Cette vision des choses est entrée pour une grande part dans la conscience moderne et elle détermine largement la conception de l'existence qui a cours aujourd'hui (…) Après l'expérience des régimes autoritaires, de la brutalité avec laquelle ils ont écrasé les hommes, raillé, asservi, frappé les faibles, nous sommes à nouveau à même de comprendre ceux qui ont faim et soif de justice.”

Benoît XVI

Jésus de Nazareth, 2007

volonté , vie , hommes , faim

“On ne peut oublier que le fondamentalisme religeux et le laïcisme sont des formes spéculaires et extrêmes du refus du légitime pluralisme et du principe de laïcité.”

Benoît XVI

Messages, Sur la religion

oubli , formation

Benoît XVI: Citations en anglais

“"Rock" [music]… is the expression of elemental passions, and at rock festivals it assumes a cultic character, a form of worship, in fact, in opposition to Christian worship. People are, so to speak, released from themselves by the experience of being part of a crowd and by the emotional shock of rhythm, noise, and special lighting effects. However, in the ecstasy of having all their defenses torn down, the participants sink, as it were, beneath the elemental force of the universe.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2000, The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000)

“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.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

When asked by reporters if Islam is a religion of peace. [Pope says terror attacks cannot be defined as anti-Christian, Catholic News Agency, 2005-07-25, http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/pope_says_terror_attacks_cannot_be_defined_as_antichristian/, 2016-02-25]
2005

“Do not be afraid to say 'yes' to Jesus, to find your joy in doing his will, giving yourself completely to the pursuit of holiness, and using all your talents in the service of others!”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Closing Mass (19 July 2008)

“One must not fear truth, because it is a friend of man and of his freedom”

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Pope Benedict XVI

In General Audience, General Audience 30 September 2009 http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/audiences/2009/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20090930_en.html (30 September 2009)
2009

“Truth draws strength from itself and not from the number of votes in its favour.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

In Address to the International Diplomats Address to the International Diplomats http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/march/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20060318_intern-organizations_en.html (18 March 2006)
2006

“In a society, in a culture, which all too often make relativism its creed - relativism has become a sort of dogma - in such a society the light of truth is missing; indeed, it is considered dangerous and "authoritarian" to speak of truth, and the end result is doubt about the goodness of life - is it good to be a person? is it good to be alive? - and in the validity of the relationships and commitments in which it consists.Today, more than in the past, the education and formation of the person are influenced by the messages and general climate spread by the great means of communication and which are inspired by a mindset and culture marked by relativism, consumerism and a false and destructive exaltation, or rather, profanation, of the body and of sexuality.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

In a Speech of Benedict XVI at the Inauguration of the Convention of the Diocese of Rome http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2007/june/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20070611_convegno-roma_en.html, at the Basilica of Saint John Lateran (11 June 2007)
2007

“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!”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Youth Day Vigil (19 July 2008)

“For [the Virgin] Mary there were many struggles ahead as she lived out the consequences of the 'yes' she had given to the Lord. Simeon prophesied that a sword would pierce her heart. When Jesus was twelve she experienced every parent's worst nightmare when for three days the child was missing. And after his public ministry she suffered the agony of witnessing his crucifixion and death. Throughout her trials she remained faithful to her promise, sustained by the Spirit of fortitude. And she was generously rewarded.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Angelus following the Closing Mass (19 July 2008)

“Unlimited trust should only be placed in the real Word of the Revelation that we encounter in the faith transmitted by the Church.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

During interview by Niels Christian Hvidt in 1999
1990s

“Authentic love is obviously something good. When we love we become most fully human. But people often consider themselves loving when actually they are possessive or manipulative. People sometimes treat others as objects to satisfy their own needs. How easy it is to be deceived by the many voices in our society that advocate a permissive approach to sexuality, without regard for modesty, self-respect or the moral values that bring quality into human relationships! This is worship of a false god; instead of bringing life, it brings death.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Disadvantaged Youth (18 July 2008)

“After the Second Vatican Council, the impression arose that the pope really could do anything in liturgical matters, especially if he were acting on the mandate of an ecumenical council. Eventually, the idea of the givenness of the liturgy, the fact that one cannot do with it what one will, faded from the public consciousness of the West. In fact, the First Vatican Council had in no way defined the pope as an absolute monarch. On the contrary, it presented him as the guarantor of obedience to the revealed Word. The pope's authority is bound to the Tradition of faith, and that also applies to the liturgy. It is not "manufactured" by the authorities. Even the pope can only be a humble servant of its lawful development and abiding integrity and identity. … The authority of the pope is not unlimited; it is at the service of Sacred Tradition…. The greatness of the liturgy depends - we shall have to repeat this frequently — on its unspontaneity.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2000, The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000)

“Islam has a total organization of life that is completely different from ours; it embraces simply everything. There is a very marked subordination of woman to man; there is a very tightly knit criminal law, indeed, a law regulating all areas of life, that is opposed to our modern ideas about society. One has to have a clear understanding that it is not simply a denomination that can be included in the free realm of a pluralistic society.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

1997 interview with German journalist Peter Seewald, quoted in "Tough-talking pope has history with Muslims, refuses to give in", The Washington Times (20 September 2006) http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2006/sep/20/20060920-123849-8040r/
1990s

“The fact that the church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

from Zenit.org (11 April 2005)
2005

“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.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2003

“I think the essential point is a weakness of faith.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

from an interview with EWTN news director Raymond Arroyo in August 2003 as reported by Zenit.org, Aug. 24, 2003
2003

“You might think that in today's world people are unlikely to start worshipping other gods. But sometimes people do worship 'other gods' without realizing it. False 'gods' are nearly always associated with the worship of three things: material possessions, possessive love, or power.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Inter-religious Meeting (17 July 2008)

“Walk in Christ's light daily through fidelity to personal and liturgical prayer, nourished by meditation on the inspired word of God.. Make the daily celebration of the Eucharist the center of your life.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Mass with the Clergy (18 July 2008)

“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.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2000, The Spirit of the Liturgy (2000)

“The mysterious name of God, revealed from the burning bush, a name which separates this God from all other divinities with their many names and simply asserts being, "I am", already presents a challenge to the notion of myth, to which Socrates' attempt to vanquish and transcend myth stands in close analogy. Within the Old Testament, the process which started at the burning bush came to new maturity at the time of the Exile, when the God of Israel, an Israel now deprived of its land and worship, was proclaimed as the God of heaven and earth and described in a simple formula which echoes the words uttered at the burning bush: "I am". This new understanding of God is accompanied by a kind of enlightenment, which finds stark expression in the mockery of gods who are merely the work of human hands (cf. Ps 115). Thus, despite the bitter conflict with those Hellenistic rulers who sought to accommodate it forcibly to the customs and idolatrous cult of the Greeks, biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria - the Septuagint - is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act "with logos" is contrary to God's nature.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2006, Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections (2006)

“[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”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2009, Cartias in Vertitate (29 June 2009)

“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.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

Evidently, this time he didn't listen to me.
Comments on his election during his first audience with German pilgrims, original comments given in German.
2005

“Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached. God is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably is contrary to God's nature. Faith is born of the soul, not the body. Whoever would lead someone to faith needs the ability to speak well and to reason properly, without violence and threats… To convince a reasonable soul, one does not need a strong arm, or weapons of any kind, or any other means of threatening a person with death.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

Manuel II Palaiologos, in the 7th of the 26 Dialogues Held With A Certain Persian, the Worthy Mouterizes, in Anakara of Galatia (1391), this quote became the subject of controversy when it was used by Benedict XIV in his lecture "Faith, Reason and the University — Memories and Reflections" (12 September 2006)
Misattributed

“Many people today lack hope. They are perplexed by the questions that present themselves ever more urgently in a confusing world, and they are often uncertain which way to turn for answers. They see poverty and injustice and they long to find solutions. They are challenged by the arguments of those who deny the existence of God and they wonder how to respond… Where can we look for answers? The Spirit points us towards the way that leads to life, to love and to truth. The Spirit points us towards Jesus Christ. In him we find the answers we are seeking.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Young Pilgrims (13 July 2008)

“How many questions arise in this place! Constantly the question comes up: Where was God in those days? Why was he silent? How could he permit this endless slaughter, this triumph of evil? … We must continue to cry out humbly yet insistently to God: Rouse yourself! Do not forget mankind, your creature!”

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Pope Benedict XVI

On visited the former concentration camp at Auschwitz, Poland, on May 28, 2006. Quoted in The Watchtower magazine, in the article: “Why, Lord, Did You Remain Silent?”, (15 May 2007)
2007

“Christ offers more! Indeed he offers everything! Only he who is the Truth can be the Way and hence also the Life.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

2008, Papal Welcome (17 July 2008)

“Too often, though, the beauty that is thrust upon us is illusory and deceitful, superficial and blinding, leaving the onlooker dazed; instead of bringing him out of himself and opening him up to horizons of true freedom as it draws him aloft, it imprisons him within himself and further enslaves him, depriving him of hope and joy. It is a seductive but hypocritical beauty that rekindles desire, the will to power, to possess, and to dominate others, it is a beauty which soon turns into its opposite, taking on the guise of indecency, transgression or gratuitous provocation. Authentic beauty, however, unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond.”

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Pope Benedict XVI

in Meeting with Artists http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/november/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20091121_artisti_en.html (21 November 2009)
2009