Grief for the Pope: Pope Francis – the most important quotations

Pope Francis was known for open and pithy words that sometimes caused surprised or controversy. A selection of formative quotes:

“Brothers and sisters, good evening. As you know, it was the obligation of the complain to give Rome a bishop. As it seems, my cardinal brothers almost gone to the end of the world to get it.”

(At his first appearance on the Loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica on March 13, 2013)

“I want a poor church and a church for the poor.”

(In March 2013 at an audience in the Vatican)

“No, I didn’t want to be a Pope. A person who wants to become a Pope doesn’t love himself.”

(In June 2013 at a question time with Jesuit students in the Vatican)

“If someone is gay and he is looking for the Lord and shows good will, who I am to condemn it.”

(In July 2013 on the return flight from a trip to Brazil)

“We got used to the suffering of the other. It does not affect us. We don’t care. We are not concerned with anything! (…) The globalization of indifference has taken the ability to cry!”

(In July 2013 in a sermon on the Italian Mediterranean island of Lampedusa, where many refugees arrive)

“A curia that does not criticize itself that does not develop further, which does not try to improve, is a sick body.”

(In December 2013 in his Christmas speech in front of the Roman Curia in the Vatican)

“God always forgives people sometimes, nature never. We have to take care of nature so that it does not answer with destruction.”

(In November 2014 at the UN Nutritional Conference in Rome)

“And so we waste our godly gifts by dealing with frills. We waste our money on play and drinks and turn around ourselves.”

(In January 2015 in the final sermon when visiting the Philippines)

“Some people believe – excuse the expression – that good Catholics like Carnickel have to multiply.”

(In January 2015 on the return flight from the Philippines)

“The rhythm of consumption, waste and change in the environment has exceeded the capacity of the planet in such a way that the current lifestyle can only end in disasters.”

(In his environmental cyclical “Lauato Si” published in June 2015)

“I dream of a Europe that cannot be said that his commitment to human rights was last in his visions.”

(In May 2016 at the awarding of the Charles Prize)

“Unfortunately, this tragedy, this genocide, has opened the sad list of the horrific catastrophes of the past century, which were made possible by abnormal racist, ideological or religious motivations.”

(In June 2016 at a meeting with Armenia President Sersch Sargsjan in the capital Eriwan about the massacres of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire during the First World War)

“Taking reform in Rome is like cleaning the Egyptian Sphinx with a toothbrush.”

(In December 2017 in his Christmas speech in front of the Roman Curia in the Vatican)

“You can’t do that. It is not fair to kill a person, even if he is small. It is like renting an order murderer to solve a problem.”

(In October 2018 at General audience in Rome to abortions)

“I would like to emphasize at this point: If only an abuse is found in the church – which is already a hideousness in itself – this case is tackled with the greatest seriousness.”

(In February 2019 in his speech to conclude the anti-abuse summit in the Vatican)

“There will never be a real peace if we are unable to build a fairer economic system.”

(In December 2019 on the World Peace Day on January 1st)

“Abortion is more than a problem. It is murder.”

(In September 2021 on the return flight from a Slovakia trip)

“I am here to tell you that I am close to you. I am here to see your faces and look into your eyes. Eyes full of fear and expectation, eyes that have seen violence and poverty, eyes are reddened by too many tears.”

(In December 2021 to migrants on the Greek island of Lesbos)

“We live in an era of walls and barbed wire.”

(In December 2021 to deal with many countries with migration)

“We are standing for humanity that is in great danger.”

(In October 2022 at an audience in the Vatican)

“And we feel so much gratitude in our hearts: gratitude towards God that he gave him the church and the world; gratitude towards him for all the good he has done, and above all for his testimony of faith and prayer, especially in the last few years when he lived.”

(In January 2023 on the death of the emeritus Pope Benedict XVI.)

(In June 2023 after surviving surgery when leaving the hospital in Rome)

(In October 2023 after a conference of the world synod with a view to the Synod 2024)

“As you see, I’m alive.”

(In November 2023 on a general audience after rejecting a trip to a Dubai because of bronchitis)

“The world needs to look at the mothers and women to find peace to break out of the spirals of violence and hatred and to get a human eye and a seeing heart again.”

(In January 2024 in his sermon for the high festival of the Blessed Mother Maria on New Year’s Day in St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican)

“If you see that you are defeated that things are not going well, you have to have the courage to negotiate.”

(In March 2024 in an interview with Swiss television for the Ukraine War)

“Peace is never created with weapons, but by stretching your hands and opens your hearts.”

(In March 2024 at his traditional Easter message on St. Peter’s Square for the Gaza War)

“The destruction of the environment is an insult to God, a sin that is not only personal, but also structurally, a sin that endangers all people, especially the weakest among us, and which threatens to trigger a conflict between the generations.”

(In May 2024 in a message at the World Climate Summit COP28)

“No machine can ever be able to make the choice of taking life or not.”

(In June 2024 at the G7 summit in Italy)

“Disturbance is a cancer ulcer of democracy.”

(In July 2024 about the state of democracy)

“To really live, you can’t stay seated. Life always means: start moving, starting, dreaming, planning, being open to the future.”

(In October 2024 at a sermon in Petersdom)