VATICAN CITY (AP) ā Pope Francis, who , had an informal, lighthearted speaking style, and sometimes he even created words in a combination of his native Spanish with the Italian that he spoke as pope.
Some of his memorable quotes:
A simple, initial greeting
āBrothers and sisters, good evening!ā -- Francisā delivered from the loggia of St. Peterās Basilica after his election as pontiff on March 13, 2013.
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A plea to remember the poor
āWhen the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: āDonāt forget the poor!ā And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. ā¦ How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!ā ā Francis, speaking to journalists on March 16, 2013, recounting how Cardinal Claudio Hummes gave him the idea of choosing the name Francis.
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A plea for mercy
āIn these days, Iāve been able to read a book by a cardinal ā Cardinal Kasper, a good theologian ā about mercy. And this book has done me a lot of good, though donāt think Iām just doing publicity for my cardinalsā books! Itās not like that. But itās done me so much good. Cardinal Kasper said that feeling āmercy,ā this word changes everything. Itās the best thing we can feel: It changes the world. A bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.ā ā Francis' First Angelus prayer from his studio window, March 17, 2013. ___
A greeting for Benedict
āWe are brothers.ā ā Francis, for the first time after the election, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, March 23, 2013. ___
A welcoming phrase
āWho am I to judge?ā ā Francis, about a purportedly gay priest, in a comment that set the tone for a papacy more welcoming to LGBTQ+ Catholics, July 28, 2013. ___
A greeting for the patriarch
āWe are brothers.ā ā Francis, during the first-ever papal meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Havana airport, Feb. 13, 2016. ___
A message on the sacraments
āIn certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, āI want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lordās mercy.ā I would also point out that the Eucharist āis not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.'ā ā Footnote 351 in encyclical āAmoris Laetitiaā (āThe Joy of Loveā), referencing Francisā writings about access to the Eucharist, April 8, 2016. ___
An outreach to Islam
"The meeting is the message.ā ā Francis, Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the prestigious Sunni Muslim center of learning, after a long freeze in relations, May 23, 2016.
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On criticism
āItās an honor if the Americans attack me.ā ā to French journalist-author Nicholas Seneze, referring to U.S. conservative criticism, aboard the papal plane about Senezeās book āHow America Wants to Change the Pope,ā Sept. 4, 2019.
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On the pandemic
āWe have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time, important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.ā ā Francis, praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic in St. Peterās Square, March 27, 2020.
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On Indigenous people
āI am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.ā ā Francis, of Indigenous peoples in Canadaās residential schools, at the site of a former school in Maskwacis, Alberta, July 25, 2022.
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On Argentina
āI donāt know if youāre familiar with this theological-cultural history, that the guardian angels of some countries got mad with God and told him: āFather, you were unfair to us ā¦ you gave each of our countries a wealth: cattle, agriculture, mining. And to the Argentines you gave them everything. Everything! They have all the wealth.ā And it is said that God thought a little. āBut to balance it out, I gave Argentina Argentines.ā" ā Francis, in an interview with The Associated Press, Jan. 24, 2023.
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On homosexuality
āBeing homosexual is not a crime.āā Francis, in an , referring to countries that criminalize homosexuality, Jan. 24, 2023.
The Associated Press
