The most important appointment Pope Francis has made is the appointment of the Australian cardinal, George Pell, as the Vatican's financial overseer.

Democracy is always an unfinished experiment, testing the capacity of each generation to live freedom nobly.

In the Church the transformative power of the Eucharist is experienced through the dignified celebration of Holy Mass, and people are empowered for mission because of that.

The Church offers the medicine of the divine mercy so that healed souls can grasp the truth that will liberate them in the fullest meaning of human freedom.

Freedom that lacks moral truth becomes its own worst enemy.

The world needs a pastor, whether it knows it or not.

The papacy is an impossible job. So the best thing Catholics can do for the pope is to pray for him.

Ideas have consequences and bad ideas can have lethal consequences.

In the Catholic view of things, abortion is a justice issue, not an issue of sexual morality... it is a civil rights issue, arguably the greatest civil rights issue of our time.

[Jesus Christ to Pope Francis] is the Lord with whom he speaks for hours every day in prayer. The Risen One who reached out, touched his life, and called him into mission.

The emphasis on the "peripheries" is also a distinctively "Franciscan" way of expressing the pope's respect for untutored popular piety - a respect, I might add, that was shared by St. John Paul II.

Oh my dear, no matter who you are, where you are, or how you are, I can hear your song. I can feel your pain, and I really care.

Oh, it must be wonderful to be educated. What does it feel like?''It's like having an operation, ' said Treece. 'You don't know you've had it until long after it's over.

Proverbs 16:3 "Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans."A great reminder when planning out the school year.

The principle of tolerance and respect for freedom promoted by the reforms of the Second Vatican Council are today being manipulated and erroneously taken too far.

It's one thing to make a choice. It's another to put that choice into practice.

The journey has been a parody of my life recently: rushing, waiting, wandering, feeling lost and losing sleep, wondering if I'm getting anywhere.

I basically was a precocious little kid.

Kings and magistrates are invested with no more power than the people entrust to them.

All day I think about it, then at night I say it. Where did I come from, and what am I supposed to be doing? I have no idea. My soul is from elsewhere, I'm sure of that, and I intend to end up there.

Be yourself' is good advice, unless you notice that people are always excusing themselves and moving away from you. In that case, try being someone else!