Christ's Church is, above all, the spiritual temple where every Christian knows he has his place: he knows he has it, and he is aware of his duty to keep it with honor, dignity, and grace.
— Pope John XXIII
Every Christian must be convinced of his fundamental and vital duty of bearing witness to the truth in which he believes and the grace that has transformed him.
Authority is mainly a moral power; therefore, it must first call upon the conscience, that is, upon the duty that each person has to contribute willingly to the common good.
A peaceful man does more good than a learned one.
The true and solid peace of nations consists not in equality of arms, but in mutual trust alone.
Anybody can be Pope; the proof of this is that I have become one.
Here I am at the end of the road and at the top of the heap.
Born poor, but of honored and humble people, I am particularly proud to die poor.
Consult not your fears but your hopes and your dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.
Christian life means sacrifice.
Christ's flock is made up of sheep that not only listen to their shepherd, but are also able to recognize his voice, to follow him, faithfully and with full awareness, on the pastures of eternal life.
It is easier for a father to have children than for children to have a real father.
It often happens that I wake up at night and begin to think about a serious problem and decide I must tell the Pope about it. Then I wake up completely and remember that I am the Pope.
Italians come to ruin most generally in three ways, women, gambling, and farming. My family chose the slowest one.
Men are like wine - some turn to vinegar, but the best improve with age.
It is now for the Catholic Church to bend herself to her work with calmness and generosity. It is for you to observe her with renewed and friendly attention.
I have looked into your eyes with my eyes. I have put my heart near your heart.
I must consider myself as the man of the cross and love the one that God gives me without thinking any further.
In this world of ours, every believer must be a spark of light, a center of love, a vivifying ferment for the mass; and it will be that all the more as, in the depths of his being, he lives in communion with God.
I am able to follow my own death step by step. Now I move softly towards the end.
The feelings of my smallness and my nothingness always kept me good company.
See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.
Every man has the right to life, to bodily integrity.
The council now beginning rises in the Church like the daybreak, a forerunner of most splendid light.
The family is the first essential cell of human society.
