Top 500 Pope Francis Quotes (2023 Update)
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351. “Fasting makes sense if it really chips away at our security and, as a consequence, benefits someone else, if it helps us cultivate the style of the good Samaritan, who bent down to his brother in need and took care of him.”

— Pope Francis

352. “Dear young people, don’t be afraid to marry. A faithful and fruitful marriage will bring you happiness.”

— Pope Francis

353. “Only trust in God can transform doubts into certainty, evil into good, night into radiant dawn.”

— Pope Francis

354. “This is ideological colonization. They colonize people with ideas that try to change mentalities or structures, but this is not new. This was done by the dictatorships of the last century.”

— Pope Francis

355. “Today, we need a Church capable of walking at people’s side, of doing more than simply listening to them; a Church which accompanies them on their journey...”

— Pope Francis

356. “To protect creation, to protect every man and every woman, to look upon them with tenderness and love is to open up a horizon of hope.”

— Pope Francis

357. “Evolution in nature is not inconsistent with the notion of creation, because evolution requires the creation of beings that evolve.”

— Pope Francis

358. “Only those who serve with love are able to protect!”

— Pope Francis

359. “We too can be saints in our family, in our neighborhood, wherever we live and work. Be a person who listens to what people need, communicating not only to grieve or tell others about your own problems. Listen in order to intercede and help out.”

— Pope Francis

360. “In the moment of hardship, we ask why some things happen. In those moments of suffering, questioning prayers that do not ask for explanations but beg the Lord to accompany us are the most useful.”

— Pope Francis

361. “This is important: to get to know people, listen, expand the circle of ideas. The world is crisscrossed by roads that come closer together and move apart, but the important thing is that they lead towards the Good.”

— Pope Francis

362. “The family is the most important wealth of a nation. May we endeavor to defend and strengthen the foundation of society.”

— Pope Francis

363. “The key that opens the door to the faith is prayer.”

— Pope Francis

364. “Children have a right to grow up in a family with a father and a mother.”

— Pope Francis

365. “God is not a divine being or a magician, but the Creator who brought everything to life.”

— Pope Francis

366. “The emptier a person’s heart is, the more he or she needs to buy, own, and consume.”

— Pope Francis

367. “A church without women would be like the apostolic college without Mary. The Madonna is more important than the apostles, and the church herself is feminine, the spouse of Christ and a mother.”

— Pope Francis

368. “The family is where we are formed as people. Every family is a brick in the building of society.”

— Pope Francis

369. “I dream of a church that is a mother and shepherdess.”

— Pope Francis

370. “The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly human goal.”

— Pope Francis

371. “A Christian brings peace to others. Not only peace, but also love, kindness, faithfulness and joy.”

— Pope Francis

372. “When everything falls apart, only one thing sustains our hope: God loves us, he loves everyone!”

— Pope Francis

373. “Vanity, showing off, is an attitude that reduces spirituality to a worldly thing, which is the worst sin that could be committed in the church.”

— Pope Francis

374. “If we act like children of God, knowing that he loves us, our lives will be made new, filled with serenity and joy.”

— Pope Francis

375. “Without mercy, we have little chance nowadays of becoming part of a world of ‘wounded’ persons in need of understanding, forgiveness, love.”

— Pope Francis

376. “We need to be creative with young people. If they have no opportunities, they will get into drugs and be vulnerable to suicide.”

— Pope Francis

377. “Let us not have a computer psychology that makes us think we know it all. All answers on computers – but no surprises. The challenge of love. God reveals himself through surprises.”

— Pope Francis

378. “We can walk when we want to, we can build many things, but if we do not witness to Jesus Christ then it doesn’t matter. We might become a philanthropic NGO but we wouldn’t be the Church, the Bride of the Lord.”

— Pope Francis

379. “Mere administration can no longer be enough. Throughout the world, let us be permanently in a state of mission.”

— Pope Francis

380. “When we do not adore God, we adore something else. Money and power are false idols which often take the place of God.”

— Pope Francis

381. “I have a dogmatic certainty: God is in every person’s life. God is in everyone’s life. Even if the life of a person has been a disaster, even if it is destroyed by vices, drugs or anything else – God is in this person’s life. You can – you must – try to seek God in every human life.”

— Pope Francis

382. “Without a solution to the problems of the poor, we will not solve the problems of the world. We need projects, mechanisms and processes to implement better distribution of resources, from the creation of new jobs to the integral promotion of those who are excluded’.”

— Pope Francis

383. “The love of God is not something vague or generic; the love of God has a name and a face: Jesus Christ.”

— Pope Francis

384. “Indifference is dangerous, whether innocent or not.”

— Pope Francis

385. “Do not be afraid to go and to bring Christ into every area of life, to the fringes of society, even to those who seem farthest away, most indifferent.”

— Pope Francis

386. “Those called to the service of governance in the church need to have a strong sense of justice, so that any form of injustice becomes unacceptable.”

— Pope Francis

387. “God loves us. May we discover the beauty of loving and being loved.”

— Pope Francis

388. “Obsession with a consumerist lifestyle, above all when few people are capable of maintaining it, can only lead to violence and mutual destruction.”

— Pope Francis

389. “Like Mary, may we nurture the light born within us at Christmas. May we carry it everywhere in our daily lives.”

— Pope Francis

390. “Jesus on the Cross feels the whole weight of the evil, and with the force of God’s love he conquers it, he defeats it with his resurrection.”

— Pope Francis

391. “It is normal for husband and wife to argue: it’s normal. It always happens. But my advice is this: never let the day end without having first made peace. Never!”

— Pope Francis

392. “We must not believe the Evil One when he tells us that there is nothing we can do in the face of violence, injustice and sin.”

— Pope Francis

393. “I like it when someone tells me ‘I don’t agree.’ This is a true collaborator. When they say ‘Oh, how great, how great, how great,’ that’s not useful.”

— Pope Francis

394. “When Jesus stepped into the waters of the Jordan and was baptized by John the Baptist, he did so not because he was in need of repentance, or conversion: he did it to be among people who need forgiveness, among us sinners, and to take upon himself the burden of our sins.”

— Pope Francis

395. “Only by becoming poor ourselves, by stripping away our complacency, will we be able to identify with the least of our brothers and sisters.”

— Pope Francis

396. “How many kinds of moral and material poverty we face today as a result of denying God and putting so many idols in his place!”

— Pope Francis

397. “We also must learn to listen more to our conscience. Be careful, however: this does not mean we ought to follow our ego, do whatever interests us, whatever suits us, whatever pleases us. That is not conscience.”

— Pope Francis

398. “It is important to integrate immigrants into society and to welcome them in the church community.”

— Pope Francis

399. “In a world like this, media can help us to feel closer to one another, creating a sense of unity of the human family which can in turn inspire solidarity and serious efforts to ensure a more dignified life for all.”

— Pope Francis

400. “Dear young people, let us not be satisfied with a mediocre life. Be amazed by what is true and beautiful, what is of God!”

— Pope Francis