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purification, of the dark night.

      Homily, 11 March 2006

       ON CHRISTMAS

      What is the spirit of Christmas? Over the years the world of culture has tried to express it in a thousand ways and has managed to take us closer to the meaning of the Christmas spirit. How many Christmas stories bring us closer to this?

      La Nacion, 23 December 2011

       ON THE CHURCH

      We have to avoid the spiritual sickness of a self-referential Church. It’s true that by straying from its path, as can happen to any man or woman, accidents can happen. But if the Church stays enclosed within itself, self-referential, it will grow old. And between a Church that accidentally strays off its path and one that is sick because of self-reference, I have no doubt: I prefer the former.

      El Jesuita, 2010

      If, throughout history, the Church has changed so much, I do not see why we should not adapt it to the culture of the [our] time.

      Sobre El Cielo y La Tierra, 2010

      The Church is Mother and talks to the people as a mother talks to her child, with that confidence that the child already knows that everything he is being taught is for his good, because he knows he is loved.

      Homily, 19 January 2005

      The Church was, is, and will continue to be persecuted.

      Homily, 23 April 2007

      How I would love a Church that is poor and for the poor.

      Vatican press conference, 16 March 2013

      I must not be scandalized by the fact that the Church is my mother: I must look at its sins and shortcomings as I would look at my mother’s sins and shortcomings. And when I think of her, I remember the good and beautiful things she has achieved, more than her weaknesses and defects. A mother defends herself with a heart filled with love before doing so with words. I wonder whether there is any love for the Church in the hearts of those who pay so much attention to the scandals.

      America Magazine, 13 March 2013

       ON THE CHURCH IN BUENOS AIRES

      Instead of just being a Church that welcomes and receives, we try to be a Church that comes out of itself and goes to the men and women who do not participate in parish life, do not know much about it and are indifferent towards it. We organize missions in public squares where many people usually gather: we pray, we celebrate Mass, and we offer baptism which we administer after a brief preparation.

      Vatican Insider, 24 February 2013

       ON CHURCH POLITICS

      The Pope … talked about James and John and the tensions between the first followers of Jesus on who should be first. This shows us that certain attitudes and arguments have existed in the Church since the beginning.

      Vatican Insider, 24 February 2012

      There are sectors within the religions that are so prescriptive that they forget the human side.

      Sobre El Cielo y La Tierra, 2010

      There have been corrupt periods. There were very difficult periods, but the religion revived itself.

      Sobre El Cielo y La Tierra, 2010

       ON THE CHURCH’S EMPHASIS ON SUFFERING

      It is true that at one time, [the Church] really emphasized the matter of suffering. The exaltation of suffering in the Church depends a great deal on the era and the culture [in question].

      El Jesuita, 2010

       ON CITIES

      Every big city has many riches, many possibilities, but also many dangers.

      Homily, 12 March 2005

      The city is also a mother.

      Homily, 30 December 2005

       ON CITIZENSHIP

      Political society will only endure if the satisfaction of common human needs is our vocation. This is the role of the citizen.

      Homily, 25 May 1999

      We are historical people. We live in time and space. Every generation needs the ones before it and owes those who follow. And this, in great measure, is what it means to be a nation: to understand ourselves as continuing the work of other men and women who have already done their part.

      Annual Message to Educational Communities, Easter 2002

      We don’t have to expect everything from those who govern us; that would be juvenile.

      Homily, 25 May 2003

      People are historical subjects, which is to say citizens and members of the pueblo [nation]. The state and society should generate the social conditions that promote and act as guardian of their rights and allow them to be builders of their own destiny.

      Speech, Archdiocesan Social Pastoral Conference, 16 October 2010

       ON CIVILIZATION

      It is possible to build a new civilization centred on love and life.

      Homily, 25 September 2004

       ON THE CONCLAVE

      The period of the Conclave was full of meaning, not only for the College of Cardinals, but also for all the faithful. In these days we felt, almost tangibly, the affection and solidarity of the universal Church, as well as the attention of many people who, although they do not share our faith, look to the Church and the Holy See with respect and admiration.

      Address to cardinals, The Vatican Today, 15 March 2013

       ON CONVERSATION

      Would it be possible for us to be more attentive to what we say to others and what we don’t say?

      Annual Message to Educational Communities, Easter 2002

      In order to have dialogue, you have to know how to lower your defences, open the doors of your home and offer human warmth.

      Sobre El Cielo y La Tierra, 2010

      True growth in human consciousness cannot be founded on anything other than the practice of dialogue and love.

      Annual Message to Educational Communities, Easter 2002

       ON CREATIVITY

      The challenge of creative beings is to be suspicious of every discourse, thought, affirmation, or proposal that presents itself as ‘the only possible path’. There are always others. There is always another possibility.

      Annual Message to Educational Communities, 9 April 2003

      If to build something we always undo and step on what others have done before us, how can we create something solid?

      Annual Message to Educational Communities, 9 April 2003

       ON CRITICIZING ARGENTINA’S LEADERS

      Rather than preventing [it], it seems they have opted for making inequalities even greater.

      Guardian, 13 March 2013

       ON DEATH

      Death is on my mind every day.

      El Jesuita, 2010

       ON THE DEATH OF ARGENTINIAN PRESIDENT NÉSTOR KIRCHNER

      And we are here today to pray for a man named Néstor, who was received by the hands of God and who, in his moment, was anointed by his people [to lead].

      Homily, 27 October

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