Pope John Paul II Quotes & Sayings

To believe in Jesus is to accept what he says, even when it runs contrary to what others are saying. It means rejecting the lure of sin, however attractive it may be, in order to set out on the difficult path of the Gospel virtues. — Pope John Paul II

Solidarity is not a feeling of vague compassion or shallow distress at the misfortunes of so many people, both near and far. On the contrary, it is a firm and persevering determination to commit oneself to the common good; that is to say to the good of all and of each individual, because we are all really responsible for all — Pope John Paul II

When man turns his back on the Creator's plan, he provokes a disorder which has inevitable repercussions on the rest of the created order. If man is not at peace with God, then earth itself cannot be at peace. — Pope John Paul II

I have a sweet tooth for song and music. This is my Polish sin. — Pope John Paul II

To the family is entrusted the task of striving, first and foremost, to unleash the forces of good ... — Pope John Paul II

From this moment on, live the Eucharist fully; be persons for whom the Holy Mass, Communion, and Eucharistic adoration are the center and summit of their whole life. — Pope John Paul II

My desire is for the young people of the entire world to come closer to Mary. She is the bearer of an indelible youthfulness and beauty that never wanes. May young people have increasing confidence in her and may they entrust their lives to her. — Pope John Paul II

What we talked about will have to remain a secret between him and me. I spoke to him as a brother whom I have pardoned and who has my complete trust. — Pope John Paul II

The most profound and serious indication of the moral implications underlying the ecological problem is the lack of respect for life evident in many of the patterns of environmental pollution. — Pope John Paul II

To humanity, which sometimes seems to be lost and dominated by the power of evil, selfishness and fear, the risen Lord gives the gift of His love which forgives, reconciles and reopens the soul to hope. — Pope John Paul II

The only really effective means of enabling States to deal with the grave problem of poverty is to provide them with the necessary resources through foreign financial aid - public and private - granted under reasonable conditions, within the framework of international commercial relations regulated with fairness. — Pope John Paul II

The measure of your success will be the measure of your generosity. — Pope John Paul II

Every scientist, through personal study and research, completes himself and his own humanity ... Scientific research constitutes for you, as it does for many, the way for the personal encounter with truth, and perhaps the privileged place for the encounter itself with God, the Creator of heaven and earth. Science shines forth in all its value as a good capable of motivating our existence, as a great experience of freedom for truth, as a fundamental work of service. Through research each scientist grows as a human being and helps others to do likewise. — Pope John Paul II

What is the difference between "creator" and "craftsman"? The one who creates bestows being itself, he brings something out of nothing - ex nihilo sui et subiecti, as the Latin puts it - and this, in the strict sense, is a mode of operation which belongs to the Almighty alone. The craftsman, by contrast, uses something that already exists, to which he gives form and meaning. — Pope John Paul II

Forgiveness is above all a personal choice, a decision of the heart to go against the natural instinct to pay back evil with evil. — Pope John Paul II

God made us for joy. God is joy, & the joy of living reflects the original joy that God felt in creating us. — Pope John Paul II

The choice of euthanasia becomes more serious when it takes the form of a murder committed by others on a person who has in no way requested it and who has never consented to it. The height of arbitrariness and injustice is reached when certain people, such as physicians or legislators, arrogate to themselves the power to decide who ought to live and who ought to die. — Pope John Paul II

A person is an entity of a sort to which the only proper and adequate way to relate is love — Pope John Paul II

Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial. — Pope John Paul II

The challenge is to make the church's yes to life concrete and effective. The struggle will be long, and it needs each one of you. Place your intelligence, your talents, your enthusiasm, your compassion and your fortitude at the service of life! — Pope John Paul II

It is unbecoming for a cardinal to ski badly. — Pope John Paul II

You must be strong, dear brothers and sisters. You must be strong with the strength that comes from faith. — Pope John Paul II

The social order will be all the more stable, the more it takes this fact into account and does not place in opposition personal interest and the interests of society as a whole, but rather seeks ways to bring them into fruitful harmony. In fact, where self-interest is violently suppressed, it is replaced by a burdensome system of bureaucratic control which dries up the wellsprings of initiative and creativity. When people think they possess the secret of a perfect social organization which makes evil impossible, they also think that they can use any means, including violence and deceit, in order to bring that organization into being. Politics then becomes a "secular religion" which operates under the illusion of creating paradise in this world. — Pope John Paul II

The modern world, a world which has experienced marvelous achievements but which seems to have lost its sense of ultimate realities and of existence itself. — Pope John Paul II

Faith and Reason are like two wings of the human spirit by which is soars to the truth. — Pope John Paul II

The Rosary is a prayer both so humble and simple and a theologically rich in Biblical content. I beg you to pray it. — Pope John Paul II

War should belong to the tragic past, to history: it should find no place on humanity's agenda for the future. — Pope John Paul II

Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical [of Pius IX], new knowledge has led to the recognition in the theory of evolution of more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory. — Pope John Paul II

How can such episodes of such savage cruelty happen? The heart of man is an abyss out of which sometimes emerge plots of unspeakable ferocity capable of overturning in an instant the tranquil and productive life of a people. — Pope John Paul II

You are called to stand up for life! To respect and defend the mystery of life always and everywhere, including the lives of unborn babies, giving real help and encouragement to mothers in difficult situations. You are called to work and pray against abortion. — Pope John Paul II

I hope to have communion with the people, that is the most important thing. — Pope John Paul II

Laws which legitimize the direct killing of innocent human beings through abortion or euthanasia are in complete opposition to the inviolable right to life proper to every individual; they thus deny the equality of everyone before the law. — Pope John Paul II

The ecological crisis is a moral issue. — Pope John Paul II

I encourage Christians regularly to visit Christ present in the Blessed Sacrament, for we are all called to abide in the presence of God. — Pope John Paul II

Self-control is not needed because the body is evil - the truth is just the opposite. The body should be controlled with honor because it is worthy of honor. — Pope John Paul II

Michaelangelo must teach them - do not forget: all things are naked and open before His eyes. — Pope John Paul II

Man is a continuum, a totality and a continuity -
so it cannot be that nothing remains! — Pope John Paul II

Truth can prevail only in virtue of truth itself. — Pope John Paul II

The promotion of the culture of life should be the highest priority in our societies ... If the right to life is not defended decisively as a condition for all other rights of the person, all other references to human rights remain deceitful and illusory. — Pope John Paul II

Truth can never be confined to time and culture; in history it is known, but it also reaches beyond history. — Pope John Paul II

The man who wishes to understand himself thoroughly must with his unrest, uncertainty, and even his weakness and sinfulness, with his life and death, draw near to Christ. — Pope John Paul II

Apart from the mercy of God, there is no other source of hope for mankind. — Pope John Paul II

We can pray perfectly when we are out in the mountains or on a lake and we feel at one with nature. Nature speaks for us or rather speaks to us. We pray perfectly. — Pope John Paul II

Man always travels along precipices ... His truest obligation is to keep his balance. — Pope John Paul II

When our whole life is one faith, hope, love, prayer and silence, a consecrated life always bound up in the Eucharist, then the 'urge' towards God springs ... — Pope John Paul II

A nation that kills its own children has no future. — Pope John Paul II

While in some cases the damage already done may well be irreversible, in many other cases it can still be halted. It is necessary, however, that the entire human community - individuals, States and international bodies - take seriously the responsibility that is theirs. — Pope John Paul II

Beneath the Sacred Host, Christ is contained, the Redeemer of the world — Pope John Paul II

When we go before Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament we represent the one in the world who is in most need of God's Mercy." We "Stand in behalf of the one in the world who does not know Christ and who is farthest away from God and we bring down upon their soul the Precious Blood of The Lamb. — Pope John Paul II

Modern society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyle. In many parts of the world society is given to instant gratification and consumerism while remaining indifferent to the damage which these attitudes cause. Simplicity, moderation and discipline, as well as a spirit of sacrifice, must become part of everyday life, lest all suffer the negative consequences of the careless habits of a few. — Pope John Paul II

It is pleasant to spend time with Him, to lie close to His breast like the Beloved Disciple and to feel the infinite love present in His Heart ... how can we not feel a renewed need to spend time in spiritual converse, in silent adoration, in heartfelt love before Christ present in the Most Holy Sacrament? — Pope John Paul II

Love is never something ready made, something merely 'given' to man and woman, it is always at the same time a 'task' which they are set. Love should be seen as something which in a sense never 'is' but is always only 'becoming', and what it becomes depends up on the contribution of both persons and the depth of their commitment. — Pope John Paul II

Only through the Eucharist is it possible to live the heroic virtues of Christianity: charity, to the point of forgiving one's enemies; love for those who make us suffer; chastity in every age and situation of life; patience in suffering and when one is shocked by the silence of God in the tragedies of history or of one's own personal existence. You must always be Eucharistic souls in order to be authentic Christians — Pope John Paul II

Dear young people of every language and culture, a high and exhilarating task awaits you: that of becoming men and women capable of solidarity, peace and love of life, with respect for everyone. Become craftsmen of a new humanity, where brothers and sisters - members all of the same family - are able at last to live in peace. — Pope John Paul II

We are all one family in the world. Building a community that empowers everyone to attain their full potential through each of us respecting each other's dignity, rights and responsibilities makes the world a better place to live. — Pope John Paul II

The body, in fact, and it alone is capable of making visible that which is invisible; the spiritual and the divine. — Pope John Paul II

The most generous choices, especially the persevering, are the fruit of profound and prolonged union with God in prayerful silence. — Pope John Paul II

The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of Saint Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today, because the devil is still alive and active in the world. — Pope John Paul II

This shows that history is not simply a fixed progression towards what is better, but rather an
event of freedom, and even a struggle between freedoms that are in mutual conflict, that is,
according to the well-known expression of St. Augustine, a conflict between two loves: the love of
God to the point of disregarding self, and the love of self to the point of disregarding God. — Pope John Paul II

Freedom is not the ability to do anything we want, whenever we want. Rather, FREEDOM is the ability to live responsibly the truth of our relationship with God and with one another. — Pope John Paul II

The sacraments infuse holiness into the terrain of man's humanity: they penetrate the soul and body, the femininity and masculinity of the personal subject, with the power of holiness. — Pope John Paul II

The Church must persist in the teaching transmitted to her by Christ. — Pope John Paul II

It's better to cry than be angry, because anger hurts others while tears flow silently through the soul and cleans the heart. — Pope John Paul II

A man shows himself a true disciple of Christ by carrying the cross in his turn every day in the activity that he is called to perform. — Pope John Paul II

Only the chaste man and the chaste woman are capable of true love. — Pope John Paul II

The cemetery of the victims of human cruelty in our century is extended to include yet another vast cemetery, that of the unborn. — Pope John Paul II

Work bears a particular mark of man and of humanity, the mark of a person operating within a community of persons — Pope John Paul II

Let us not accept violence as the way of peace. Let us instead begin by respecting true freedom: the resulting peace will be able to satisfy the world's expectations, for it will be a peace built on justice, a peace founded on the incomparable dignity of the free human being. — Pope John Paul II

The Lord has given you a heart open to great horizons; do not be afraid to commit your life completely to the service of Christ and His Gospel! Listen to Him as He says again today: 'The harvest is abundant, but the laborers are few. — Pope John Paul II

The world [is] tired of ideology [and] is opening itself to the truth. The time has come when the splendor of this truth has begun anew to illuminate the darkness of human existence. — Pope John Paul II

Take heart young people! Christ is calling you and the world awaits you! Remember the Kingdom of God needs your generous and complete dedication. — Pope John Paul II

Sacred scripture wishes simply to declare that the world was created by God, and in order to teach this truth it expressed itself in terms of the cosmology in use at the time of the writer. Any other teaching about the origin and makeup of the universe is so alien to the intentions of the Bible, which does not wish to teach how heaven was made but how one goes to heaven. — Pope John Paul II

Although I have lived through much darkness, I have seen enough evidence to be unshakably convinced that no difficulty, no fear is so great that it can completely suffocate the hope that springs eternal in the hearts of the young ... Do not let that hope die! Stake your lives on it! We are not the sum of our weaknesses and failures; we are the sum of the Father's love for us and our real capacity to become the image of his Son. — Pope John Paul II

The goal and target of our life is He, the Christ who awaits us
each one singly and altogether
to lead us across the boundaries of time to the eternal embrace of the God who loves us. — Pope John Paul II

The desire for knowledge is so great and it works in such a way that the human heart, despite its experience of insurmountable limitation, yearns for the infinite riches which lie beyond, knowing that there is to be found the satisfying answer to every question as yet unanswered. — Pope John Paul II

Each individual in fact has moral responsibility for the acts which he personally performs; no one can be exempted from this responsibility, and on the basis of it everyone will be judged by God himself. — Pope John Paul II

The film industry has become a universal medium exercising a profound influence on the development of people's attitudes and choices, and possessing a remarkable ability to influence public opinion and culture across all social and political frontiers. — Pope John Paul II

Marriage is an act of will that signifies and involves a mutual gift, which unites the spouses and binds them to their eventual souls, with whom they make up a sole family - a domestic church. — Pope John Paul II

If the communications media are a good destined for all humanity, then ever-new means must be found - including recourse to opportune legislative measures - to make possible a true participation in their management by all. The culture of co-responsibility must be nurtured. — Pope John Paul II

A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use. — Pope John Paul II

The 25th anniversary of the decision ... is a call to people of good will to reflect. Now is the time for recommitment to the building of a culture of absolute respect for life. — Pope John Paul II

It's too early for a Polish pope. — Pope John Paul II

Only faith in Christ gives rise to a culture contrary to egotism and death. — Pope John Paul II

There is no need to be dismayed if love sometimes follows torturous ways.
Grace has the power to make straight the paths of human love. — Pope John Paul II

Wars generally do not resolve the problems for which they are fought and therefore ... prove ultimately futile. — Pope John Paul II

Do not be afraid to be the saints of the new mellineum! — Pope John Paul II

Commending the victims to almighty God's mercy, I implore his strength upon all involved in rescue efforts and in caring for the survivors. — Pope John Paul II

No one else can want for me. No one can substitute his act of will for mine. It does sometimes happen that someone very much wants me to want what he wants. This is the moment when the impassable frontier between him and me, which is drawn by free will, becomes most obvious. I may not want that which he wants me to want - and in this precisely I am incommunicabilis. I am, and I must be, independent in my actions. All human relationships are posited on this fact. — Pope John Paul II

Could God have justified Himself before human history, so full of suffering, without placing Christ's Cross at the center of that history? ... But God, who besides being Omnipotence is Wisdom and
to repeat once again
Love, desires to justify Himself to mankind. He is not the Absolute that remains outside of the world, indifferent to human suffering. he is Emmanuel, God-with-us, a God who shares man's lot and participates in his destiny. — Pope John Paul II

In the designs of Providence, there are no mere coincidences. — Pope John Paul II

It is more necessary than ever to intensify liturgical life ... by means of an appropriate formation ... of all the faithful ... — Pope John Paul II

Around the world, we see the results of exploitation which destroys much without taking future generations into account. Protecting the world's forests; stemming desertification and erosion; avoiding the spread of toxic substances harmful to man, animals and plants; protecting the atmosphere; all these can be accomplished only through active and wise cooperation, without borders or political power plays. — Pope John Paul II

Yes, the South-becoming always poorer-and the North-becoming always richer ... Richer, too in the resources of weapons with which the superpowers and blocs can mutually threaten each other. In the light of Christ's words (Mt. 25), this poor South will judge the rich North. And the poor people and poor nations-poor in different ways, not only lacking food, but also deprived of freedom and other human right-will judge those people who take these goods away from them, amassing to themselves the imperialist monopoly and political supremacy at the expense of others. — Pope John Paul II

Chess holds deep wisdoms of the people. It is truly an image of life, the reflection of human fate that has shown us the earthly way of suffering in darkness and permanent shortage of time. Like in chess, we encounter all kinds of traps, mistakes, settlements, sacrifices, kings, and queens, doubled pawns, and extraordinary moves while we are on the board ourselves. — Pope John Paul II

Man, especially in our time, has without hesitation devastated wooded plains and valleys, polluted waters, disfigured the earth's habitat, made the air unbreathable, disturbed the hydro-geological and atmospheric systems, turned luxuriant areas into deserts and undertaken forms of unrestrained industrialization, degrading that 'flower bed'-which is the earth, our dwelling place. — Pope John Paul II

While it is true that the taking of life not yet born or in it's final stages is sometimes marked by a mistaken sense of altruism and human compassion it cannot be denied that such a culture of death, taken as a whole, betrays a completely individualistic concept of freedom, which ends up by becoming the freedom of "the strong" against the weak who have no choice but to submit. — Pope John Paul II

Man must reconcile himself to his natural greatness ... he must not forget that he is a person. — Pope John Paul II

There is nothing more man needs than Divine Mercy - that love which is benevolent, which is compassionate, which raises man above his weakness to the infinite heights to the holiness of God. — Pope John Paul II

The human person is a unique composite - a unity of spirit and matter, soul and body, fashioned in the image of God and destined to live forever. Every human life is sacred, because every human person is sacred. — Pope John Paul II

Learning to think rigorously, so as to act rightly and to serve humanity better. — Pope John Paul II