Top 300 Pope Benedict XVI Quotes (2024 Update)
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101. “A theologian who does not love art, poetry, music and nature can be dangerous. Blindness and deafness toward the beautiful are not incidental; they necessarily are reflected in his theology.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

102. “Nature expresses a design of love and truth.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

103. “In a world where there is so much noise, so much bewilderment, there is a need for silent adoration of Jesus concealed in the Host. Be assiduous in the prayer of adoration and teach it to the faithful. It is a source of comfort and light, particularly to those who are suffering.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

104. “The evangelization of the person and of human communities depends totally on this encounter with Jesus Christ.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

105. “Ultimately, in the battle against lies and violence, truth and love have no other weapon than the witness of suffering.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

106. “Everyone should educate themselves in more wise and responsible consumption; promote personal responsibility, along with the social dimension of rural activities, which are based on perennial values, such as hospitality, solidarity, and the sharing of the toil of labor.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

107. “Believing is nothing other than, in the darkness of the world, touching the hand of God, and in this way, in silence, hearing the Word, seeing love.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

108. “In Jesus Christ, God took on a human face and became our friend and brother.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

109. “Without fear we must set sail on the digital sea.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

110. “God’s love does not distinguish between the infant in the mother’s womb or the child or the youth or the adult or the older person. In each one God sees His image and likeness. Human life is a manifestation of God and His glory.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

111. “What is capable of restoring enthusiasm and confidence, what can encourage the human spirit to rediscover its path, to raise its eyes to the horizon, to dream of a life worthy of its vocation – if not beauty?”

— Pope Benedict XVI

112. “Poverty is a plague against which humanity must fight without cease.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

113. “Humor is in fact an essential element in the mirth of creation. We can see how, in many matters in our lives, God wants to prod us into taking things a bit more lightly.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

114. “An authentic updating of sacred music can take place only in the lineage of the great tradition of the past, of Gregorian chant and sacred polyphony.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

115. “God loves us; we need only to summon up the humility to allow ourselves to be loved.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

116. “Est autem fides sperandarum substantia rerum, argumentum non apparentium. – Faith is the hypostasis of things hoped for; the proof of things not seen.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

117. “Grace, lavished upon us by God and communicated through the Mystery of the Incarnate Word, is an absolutely free gift with which nature is healed, strengthened and assisted in pursuing the innate desire for happiness in the heart of every man and of every woman.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

118. “Today, the need to avoid confusing marriage with other types of unions based on weak love is especially urgent. It is only the rock of total, irrevocable love between a man and a woman that can serve as the foundation on which to build a society that will become a home for all mankind.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

119. “The Church does not engage in proselytism. Instead, she grows by “attraction”: just as Christ “draws all to himself” by the power of his love, culminating in the sacrifice of the Cross, so the Church fulfills her mission...”

— Pope Benedict XVI

120. “The proclamation and witness of the Gospel are the first service that Christians can offer every person and the whole human race, as they are called to communicate to all the love of God, who manifested himself fully in the only Redeemer of the world, Jesus Christ.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

121. “God is love. But love can also be hated when it challenges us to transcend ourselves. It is not a romantic “good feeling.” Redemption is not “wellness,” it is not about basking in self-indulgence; on the contrary it is a liberation from imprisonment in self-absorption. This liberation comes at a price: the anguish of the Cross. The prophecy of light and that of the Cross belong together.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

122. “The language of art is a ‘parabolic’ language, with a special openness to the universal: the ‘Way of Beauty’ is a way capable of leading the mind and heart to the Lord, to elevate them to the heights of God.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

123. “We are still awaiting Easter; we are not yet standing in the full light but walking toward it full of trust.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

124. “You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry. I know that nothing can undo the wrong you have endured. Your trust has been betrayed and your dignity has been violated. We are all scandalized by the sins and failures of some of the Church’s members.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

125. “In the pierced heart of the Crucified, God’s own heart is opened up – here we see who God is and what he is like. Heaven is no longer locked up. God has stepped out of his hiddenness.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

126. “Intelligence and love are not in separate compartments: love is rich in intelligence and intelligence is full of love.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

127. “Praying actualizes and deepens our communion with God. Our prayer can and should arise above all from our heart, from our needs, our hopes, our joys, our sufferings, from our shame over sin, and from our gratitude from the good. It can and should be a wholly personal prayer.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

128. “Human pride and egoism always create divisions, build walls of indifference, hate and violence. The Holy Spirit, on the other hand, makes hearts capable of understanding the languages of all, as he re-establishes the bridge of authentic communication between earth and Heaven.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

129. “Only if there is love, if hearts are opened, can one person truly know the other.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

130. “The church is not a political power; it’s not a party, but it’s a moral power.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

131. “While we too always seek other signs, other wonders, we do not realize that he is the real sign, God made flesh; he is the greatest miracle of the universe: all the love of God hidden in a human heart, in a human face.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

132. “Discovering the beauty and joy of faith is a path that every new generation must take on its own.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

133. “Standards of conduct appropriate to civil society or the workings of a democracy cannot be purely and simply applied to the Church.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

134. “Grant that we may be one flock and one shepherd. Do not allow your net to be torn, help us to be servants of unity.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

135. “I encourage all of you to discover ever more fully in the Eucharist, the sacrament of Christ’s sacrificial love, the inspiration and strength needed to work ever more generously for the spread of God’s Kingdom and the growth of the civilization of love.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

136. “May you always experience the joy that comes from putting Christ at the centre of your lives.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

137. “Mission is a workshop where there is room for all.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

138. “When politicians presume to do God’s work, they do not become divine but diabolical.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

139. “This clash is an absurdity because on one hand there is much scientific proof in favor of evolution, which appears as a reality that we must see and which enriches our understanding of life and being as such.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

140. “Our first experience of God is so important, we either experience Him as the police guard that wants to punish or as Creative Love that awaits.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

141. “God’s heart calls to our hearts, inviting us to come out of ourselves, to forsake our human certainties, to trust in him and, by following his example, to make ourselves a gift of unbounded love.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

142. “It is important always to remember that virtual contact cannot and must not take the place of direct human contact with people at every level of our lives...”

— Pope Benedict XVI

143. “Young people in particular, I appeal to you: bear witness to your faith through the digital world.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

144. “Jesus, the Word incarnate, is always the center of our announcement, the point of reference for our evangelizing mission and for its methodology, because He is the human face of God, who wishes to meet all men and women so as to bring them into communion with Him, in His love.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

145. “The Eucharistic sacrifice of the body and blood of Christ embraces in turn the mystery of our Lord’s continuing passion in the members of his mystical body, the church in every age.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

146. “In his self-offering on the Cross, Jesus, as it were, brings all the sin of the world deep within the love of God and wipes it away.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

147. “We throw ourselves down, as Jesus did, before the mystery of God’s power present to us, knowing that the Cross is the true burning bush, the place of the flame of God’s love, which burns but does not destroy.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

148. “We can learn from him that suffering and the gift of himself is an essential gift we need in our time.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

149. “Nourishment is a factor which touches on the fundamental right to life.”

— Pope Benedict XVI

150. “The way we order our time is dependent on the way we order our Sunday.”

— Pope Benedict XVI