Pope Benedict XVI 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022
Winter 2023
Dear married couples, in living out your marriage you are not giving each other any particular thing or activity, but your whole lives. And your love is fruitful first and foremost for yourselves, because you desire and accomplish one another’s good, you experience the joy of receiving and giving. It is also fruitful in your generous and responsible procreation of children, in your attentive care for them, and in their vigilant and wise education. And lastly, it is fruitful for society, because family life is the first and irreplaceable school of social virtues, such as respect for persons, gratuitousness, trust, responsibility, solidarity, cooperation. World Meeting of Families, Milan, Italy, June 3, 2012 Love alone makes us happy, because we live in relation, and we live to love and to be loved. Pope Benedict XVI (2011). “Great Christian Thinkers: From the Early Church Through the Middle Ages”, p.223, Fortress Press Authentic love is obviously something good… When we love, we become most fully ourselves, most fully human… People often think they are being loving when actually they are being 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 to human relationships! This is worship of a false god. Instead of bringing life, it brings death. Pope Benedict XVI’s Address at Meeting with a Group of Disadvantaged Young People of The Rehabilitation Community of The University Of Notre Dame in Sydney, w2.vatican.va. July 18, 2008 We can fall, but in the end we fall into God’s hands, and God’s hands are good hands. Pope Benedict XVI (2008). “Mary”, USCCB My dear friends, God’s creation is one and it is good. The concerns for nonviolence, sustainable development, justice and peace, and care for our environment are of vital importance for humanity. They cannot, however, be understood apart from a profound reflection on the innate dignity of every human life from conception to natural death: a dignity conferred by God himself and thus inviolable. Pope Benedict XVI (2014). “The Garden of God”, p.26, CUA Press The family is fundamental because that is where the first awareness of the meaning of life germinates in the human soul. It germinates in the relationship with the mother and the father, who are not masters of their children’s lives but are God’s primary collaborators in the transmission of life and faith. Address during a Meeting with Young People and Families of Sicily in Palermo, Italy, Oct. 3, 2010 Indeed, truth draws strength from itself and not from the number of votes in its favour. Pope Benedict XVI’s Address to The Holy See’s International Diplomats, w2.vatican.va. March 18, 2006 Love is not greedy or self-seeking, but pure, faithful and genuinely free, open to others, respectful of their dignity, seeking their good, radiating joy and beauty. Eucharistic Celebration On The Occasion Of The 23-rd World Youth Day, w2.vatican.va. July 20, 2008. Each of us is the result of a thought of God. Each of us is willed. Each of us is loved. Each of us is necessary. Mass, Imposition Of The Pallium And Conferral Of The Fisherman’s Ring For The Beginning Of The Petrine Ministry Of The Bishop Of Rome, w2.vatican.va. April 24, 2005
