Browsing Topic Best John Paul Ii Quotes

For us Catholics, John Paul II will be remembered as a traveling Pope … and we should also remember he preached world peace. When the United States invaded Iraq, for example, John Paul II said it was an illegal and immoral act.

The pope has been called many things, historic figure, spiritual leader, moral force. But a growing chorus of voices has begun to refer to him as John Paul II the Great, in other words, as a saint.

The Catholic Church [with Pope John Paul II] has lost its shepherd. The world has lost a champion of human freedom.

Pope John Paul II was fascinated by the United States. And I think he was initially surprised at the vigor of the Catholic Church in the United States. Maybe some of the press that we had gotten he found wasn’t true. No, I think he suspected the church in the United States. Did he challenge us to some things? Sure, he did. But, no, I always – I think there was a good alliance. There was a good gel there.

Pope John Paul II himself was kind of a rather independent, creative man. I remember being told by somebody who worked very close with him in preparation for his first visit to the United States in 1979, he studied our normative documents, Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers, the Constitution. And he was amazed. He called his priests firstthing in the morning and he said, he said, I thought America was a pagan country.

In the John Paul II days, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger had the advantage of staying in his cupboard – the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – exchanging views only with the Pope, and speaking publicly only through carefully written missives on doctrinal issues.

The holy father John Paul II made a profound impact wherever he went. And, of course, his trip to Boston was one of the earliest ones. But I must say every time that I met the holy father and mentioned Boston, he would immediately say, rain. So, it made quite an impact on him, too.

I think, internally, we Catholics have known this for a long time. I think we’re just thrilled and grateful that the rest of the world now is sharing in the esteem and gratitude that we’ve had for Pope John Paul II for 26 and a half years.

I think, like Ronald Reagan, in another way, in a secular way, John Paul II was a great communicator, but he was also a man of deep conviction.

The last person to be beatified by Pope John Paul II was Mother Teresa of Calcutta in 2003.

Pope John Paul II spoke with a lot of clarity and consistency. But he always spoke with immense compassion. He’s the one who said the best way to love somebody is to tell them the truth. So, he did that well.

John Paul II spoke to the commoner and to the king, to the tyrant and to the democrat in that same language of freedom.

His [John Paul II] humanity, combined with his extraordinary spiritual authority, was unlike anything I’ve ever met.

Pope John Paul II is the great. Only two other popes had that title. Does that suggest there is going to be a move for canonization?

In life, as in death, Pope John Paul II was one of the most visible people on Earth.

I had the good fortune of living in Rome for seven years, from 1994 to 2001. So, I kind of saw firsthand the impact that Pope John Paul II had on people.

Those who saw Pope John Paul II either in person or through the mass media glimpsed a man who millions of Catholics believe may be one of the greatest popes in the history of the church.

His Holiness Pope John Paul II was a determined and deeply spiritual minded person for whom I had great respect and admiration. His experience in Poland, then a communist country, and my own difficulties with communists, gave us an immediate common ground

Over the last 2,000 years, 10,000 saints have been named, among them, 78 popes. At the time of his death, Pope John Paul II had the distinction of naming 482 saints, more than all of his predecessors combined.

Public opinion aside, it will be up to the future pope to continue John Paul II’s journey to sainthood. Many of the late pope’s followers believe he is already there.

John Paul II was one of the greatest men of the last century. Perhaps the greatest.

Confession is something we will never outgrow, even if we become the saints God made us to be. Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa of Calcutta were revered even during their lifetime; but both made frequent use of the Sacrament of Reconciliation.

The impact remains to be seen; I don’t think we can measure the enduring impact of John Paul II, for example, for another hundred, perhaps two hundred, years.

These [conservative] people, if they’re Americans, look back on the last 35 years of our ecclesial experience and take heart from that. The dramatic reform of seminaries continues. The priests and bishops who take their pastoral model from John Paul II will continue to do so, perhaps learning a lesson or two from Francis along the way – and they’ll be the overwhelming majority of the Church’s ordained ministers ten, twenty, thirty years from now.

All my sermons are prepared in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament. As recreation is most pleasant and profitable in the sun, so homiletic creativity is best nourished before the Eucharist. The most brilliant ideas come from meeting God face to face. The Holy Spirit that presided at the Incarnation is the best atmosphere for illumination. Pope John Paul II keeps a small desk or writing pad near him whenever he is in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament; and I have done this all my life – I am sure for the same reason he does, because a lover always works better when the beloved is with him.

The hope is that papal calls for a New Pentecost, which go back to St. John XXIII, and papal calls for a New Evangelization, which go back to Vatican II and especially to St. John Paul II, can come together. Pope Francis’ vision is to bring together the reality of a New Pentecost with the urgency of a New Evangelization.

John Paul II, above all, managed to contain the huge mass of frustration, of hate that had accumulated in that region, in favour of a peaceful transition. This was, without doubt, something that changed European history.

An ambassador for peace, Pope John Paul II stood steadfast against communism and condemned discrimination against all people.

[Pope Francis] did something that both his two predecessors had failed to do – John Paul II and Benedict. Francis met with the Russian patriarch of the Orthodox Church.

Pope John Paul II stands like a rock against all opposition in his clear enunciation of the foundational principles of the Christian faith.

George W. Bush, who said to Pope John Paul II, Give us a visit, and bring the missus. Never got a dinner!

Solidarity…is a structural value of the social doctrine, as Blessed John Paul II reminded us.

I already knew about this friendship between St. John Paul II and this philosopher [Ana Teresa Tymieniecka] when I was in Buenos Aires. It was known. Also her books are known.

Pope John Paul II’s press secretary, who said, See, if only the Pope were Italian, he woulda shot back! Never got a dinner!

On the ordination of women, the church has spoken and said no. John Paul II, in a definitive formulation said that door is closed.