Benedict XVI on Judas Iscariot

Judas kissing Jesus

"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood will live forever'. This revelation, as I have said, remained incomprehensible to them, because they understood it in a material sense.

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The problem is that Judas did not go away, and his most serious fault was falsehood, which is the mark of the devil.” 

 

Benedict XVI, Angelus, Castel Gandolfo, 26 August 2012.

Cardinal Ratzinger on Giorgio La Pira

“.. an eminent figure in politics, culture and spirituality of the last century ... La Pira worked for the cause of fraternal existence among nations ... setting an example to present day Catholics for a common effort to promote this basic good in various spheres: in society, politics, the economy, cultures and among religions.” 

Cardinal Ratzinger, meeting with the National Association of Italian Local Authorities 26 April 2004.

Benedict XVI on the Queenship of Mary

“It (the Feast of the Queenship of Mary) was established eight days after the Assumption, to show the strong bond between the royalty of Mary and her glorification in body and soul with her son Jesus.

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There is the notion that a king or a queen are people of power and riches, but these are not the riches of Jesus and Mary. The Kingdom of Christ is built on humility, service and love.

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May the prayers of Our Lady guide us along our pilgrimage of faith, that we may share in her Son’s victory and reign with Him in His eternal Kingdom.”

Benedict XVI, General Audience, Castel Gandolfo, 22 August 2012.

Benedict XVI on the Eucharist

“Let us rediscover the beauty of the Sacrament of Eucharist, which shows us all the humility and holiness of God, who becomes small.

In the Gospel of today’s liturgy, Jesus presents himself as the living bread come down from heaven. May we always hunger for the gift of his presence in the Eucharistic sacrifice, wherein Jesus gives us his very self as food and drink to sustain us on our pilgrim journey to the Father.

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Jesus explains himself the image of the bread saying, that he was sent to offer his own life, and those who want to follow him are asked to join him in a deep and personal way, participating in his sacrifice of love.

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Listening to this speech at Capernaum, the crowd understood that Jesus was not a Messiah who aspired to an earthly throne. Jesus was hinting at the sacrifice of the Cross, in which he would become the Bread broken for the masses.”

Benedict XVI, Castel Gandolfo, 19 August 2012.

Father Ratzinger on the Future of the Church

“From today’s crisis, a Church will emerge tomorrow that will have lost a great deal. She will be small and … will have to start from the beginning. She no longer will be able to fill many of the buildings created in her period of great splendour … Contrary to what has happened until now, she will present herself much more as a community of volunteers …
 

As a small community, she will demand much more from the initiative of each of her members, and she will also certainly acknowledge new forms of ministry and raise up proven Christians who have a calling to the priesthood. The normal care of souls will be made by smaller communities, in social groups with some affinity. …
 

This will be achieved with effort. The process of crystallisation and clarification will demand a great effort. It will make her a poor Church and a Church of the little people … All this will require time. The process will be slow and painful.” 

Joseph Ratzinger, Faith and Future (Glaube und Zukunft), 1971, pp. 76-77.

Benedict XVI on the Assumption of Mary

“It is Mary herself who prophetically pronounces some words that lead us in this direction: 'henceforth all generations shall call me blessed "(Lk 1.48). It is a prophecy for the entire history of the Church.

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In the Assumption we see that in God there is room for man, God himself is the house with many rooms that Jesus tells us: God is man's house. Opening up to God we do not lose anything. On the contrary, our life becomes more rich and great.

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It's certain that a world away from God will not be better, but worse. Only the presence of God can ensure a good world.
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Let us entrust ourselves to her maternal intercession, that she might ask the Lord to strengthen our belief in eternal life, help us to live well and with hope the time that God gives to us – a Christian hope, which is not just nostalgia for Heaven, but living and active desire for God here in the world, a desire that makes us indefatigable pilgrims, feeding in us the courage and strength of faith, a fortitude that is at once the power of love.”

Benedict XVI, Mass for the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary in the parish of San Tommaso da Villanova at Castel Gandolfo, 15 August 2012.

Benedict XVI on Don Luigi Giussani

“Don Giussani undertook to reawaken in the youth the love of Christ, 'The Way, Truth and Life'. Insisting that He alone is the only way to achieve the deepest longings of the human heart and that Christ does not save us without our humanity, but through it.”

 

Benedict XVI, Audience for Communion and Liberation members, 24 March 2007.

Benedict XVI on Ecclesia semper reformanda

“I am helped by an expression of Romano Guardini written in the year in which the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council approved the Constitution Lumen gentium, in his last book with a personal dedication to me, so the words of this book are particularly dear to me. Guardini said that the Church is not an institution devised and built at table, but a living reality. She lives along the course of time, evolving, like any living being, transforming herself. Yet her nature remains the same.”  

Benedict XVI, Farewell Discourse to the Cardinals, Clementine Hall, Vatican City, 28 February 2013.