Pope Gregory Quotes & Sayings

Pray to Saint Philomena, What ever you ask from her, She will obtain for you. — Pope Gregory XVI

I have loved justice and hated inequity; and therefore I die in exile.
[Lat., Dilexi justitiam et odi iniquitatem, propterea morior in exilio.] — Pope Gregory VII

God speaks to us individually, each and every one of us, that we need neither pope nor priest, nor bleeding statue, to find our way to faith. God is calling and we only have to listen. There are no clever tricks to forgiveness. There is only one way and there is only one Bible, and a woman can study it as well as a man. — Philippa Gregory

The unrestrained freedom of thinking and of openly making known one's thoughts is not inherent in the rights of citizens and is by no means worthy of favor and support. — Pope Gregory XVI

Ignorance is a dangerous and spiritual poison, which all men ought warily to shun. — Pope Gregory I

If we are, in fact, now occupied in good deeds, we should not attribute the strength with which we are doing them to ourselves. We must not count on ourselves, because even if we know what kind of person we are today, we do not know what we will be tomorrow. — Pope Gregory I

We are making a new order," he said. "A new world. There is talk of the end of the authority of the Pope, the map of France and Spain is being redrawn. Everything is changing, and here we are, at the very front of the change. — Philippa Gregory

For if we are bidden to honor carnal fathers and mothers, how much more the spiritual? ... If this virtue of charity has been overlooked, a man will lose any fruit of salvation in any good he may do. — Pope Gregory VII

And here we must narrowly watch ourselves, seeing that banquets can scarcely be celebrated blamelessly, for almost always luxury accompanies feasting; and when the body is swallowed up in the delight of refreshing itself, the heart relaxes to empty joys. — Pope Gregory I

The holy universal Church teaches that it is not possible to worship God truly except in Her and asserts that all who are outside of Her will not be saved. — Pope Gregory I

Affliction strengthens the vigor of our soul, whereas happiness weakens it. — Pope Gregory I

The Holy Bible is like a mirror before our mind's eye. In it we see our inner face. From the Scriptures we can learn our spiritual deformities and beauties. And there too we discover the progress we are making and how far we are from perfection. — Pope Gregory I

Now if the wearing of fine and precious robes were not a fault, word of God would never have so carefully expressed this. For no one seeks costly garments except for vainglory, that he may seem more honorable than others; for no one wishes to be clothed with such, where he cannot be seen by others. — Pope Gregory I

Let nothing of the truths that have been defined be lessened, nothing altered, nothing added, but let them be preserved intact in word and in meaning. — Pope Gregory XVI

The people will have no need to change their place of concourse; where of old they were wont to sacrifice cattle to demons, thither let them continue to resort on the day of the Saint to whom the Church is dedicated, and slay their beasts, no longer as a sacrifice to demons, but for a social meal in honour of Him whom they now worship. — Pope Gregory I

Queen Victoria was loyal and true to the Pope; that is what I was told, and so is Edward the Seventh loyal and true, but he has got something contrary in his body. — Lady Gregory

Act in such a way that your humility may not be weakness, nor your authority be severity. Justice must be accompanied by humility, that humility may render justice lovable. — Pope Gregory I

Have confidence in the compassion of our Creator. Reflect well on what you are now doing, and keep before you the things you have done. Lift up your eyes to the overflowing compassion of heaven, and while He waits for you, draw near in tears to our merciful Judge. Having before your mind that He is a Just Judge, do not take your sins lightly; and having also in mind that He is compassionate, do not despair. The God-Man gives man confidence before God. — Pope Gregory I

The only true riches are those that make us rich in virtue. Therefore, if you want to be rich, beloved, love true riches. If you aspire to the heights of real honor, strive to reach the kingdom of Heaven. If you value rank and renown, hasten to be enrolled in the heavenly court of the Angels. — Pope Gregory I

Whatsoever then you have well in this world, when you recollect to have done any thing good, be very fearful about it, lest the prosperity granted you be your recompense for the same good. And when you behold poor men doing any thing blameably, fear not, seeing that perhaps those whom the remains of the slightest iniquity defiles, the fire of honesty cleanses. — Pope Gregory I

The Bible is a stream of running water, where alike the elephant may swim, and the lamb walk without losing its feet. — Pope Gregory I

Out of the Roman States there is no country where I am Pope except the United States. — Pope Gregory XVI

Whatsoever one would understand what he hears must hasten to put into practice what he has heard. — Pope Gregory I

I think of Pope Gregory the Great. He wanted the cloister. He wanted to pray and study, and yet he was thrust into this administrative job, and he submitted to that. And in that submission, he became a great leader. You could say that the only person who is safe to lead is the person who is free to submit. — Richard Foster

You don't climb a mountain in leaps and bounds, but by taking it slowly. — Pope Gregory I

You cannot acquire the gift of peace if by your anger you destroy the peace of the Lord. — Pope Gregory I

Pope Gregory believed that successful pastoral leadership required a balance between the contemplation of the isolated ascetic and the action of the well-trained administrator. — Gregory The Great

Beyond a doubt, they perish eternally who do not keep the Catholic faith entire and unchanged. — Pope Gregory XVI

Whoever wishes to hold the fortress of contemplation must first of all train in the camp of action. — Pope Gregory I

We ascend to the heights of contemplation by the steps of action. — Pope Gregory I

That rule must be absolutely observed which states that, except for the most serious reasons and with the Apostolic See, no innovations are to be introduced into the holy rites of the liturgy. — Pope Gregory XVI

The human mind is prone to pride even when not supported by power; how much more, then, does it exalt itself when it has that support? — Pope Gregory I

I feel that the same God-force that is the mother and father of the Pope is also the mother and father of the loneliest wino on the planet. — Dick Gregory

The pastor should always be pure in thought ... no impurity ought to pollute him who has undertaken the office of wiping away the stains in the hearts of others ... for the hand that would cleanse from dirt must be clean, lest, being itself sordid with clinging mire, it soil whatever it touches all the more. — Pope Gregory I

There are in truth three states of the converted: the beginning, the middle, and the perfection. In the beginning they experience the charms of sweetness; in the middle the contests of temptation; and in the end the fullness of perfection. — Pope Gregory I

Nor can We predict happier times for religion and government from the plans of those who desire vehemently to separate the Church from the state, and to break the mutual concord between temporal authority and the priesthood. It is certain that that concord which always was favorable and beneficial for the sacred and the civil order is feared by the shameless lovers of liberty. — Pope Gregory XVI

I am a woman who slept with my father the Pope.
They say I did, at least, and so does he.
And who am I to make of the Pope a liar,
And who is he to make a liar of me? — Gregory Maguire

To do penance is to bewail the evil we have done, and to do no evil to bewail. — Pope Gregory I

The proof of love is in the works. Where love exists, it works great things. But when it ceases to act, it ceases to exist. — Pope Gregory I

The more the wicked abound, so much the more must we suffer with them in patience; for on the threshing floor few are the grains carried into the barns, but high are the piles of chaff burned with fire. — Pope Gregory I

He who is required by the necessity of his position to speak the highest things is compelled by the same necessity to exemplify the highest things. — Pope Gregory I

There is more joy in heaven over a converted sinner than over a righteous person standing firm. A leader in battle has more love for a soldier who returns after fleeing, and who valiantly pursues the enemy, than for one who never turned back, but who never acted valiantly either. A farmer has greater love for land which bears fruitfully, after he has cleared it of thorns, than for land which never had thorns but which never yielded a fruitful harvest. — Pope Gregory I

A deadly sins addendum is long overdue. Life has changed since Pope Gregory the Great scribbled his initial list in the sixth century. — P. J. O'Rourke

Who does not know that kings and rulers sprang from men who were ignorant of God, who assumed because of blind greed and intolerable presumption to make themselves masters of other men, their equals, by means of pride, violence, bad faith, murder, and almost every other kind of crime? Surely the devil drove them on. — Pope Gregory VII

Climaxing a movement for calendar reform which had been developing for at least a century, in 1582 Pope Gregory ordained that October 4 was to be followed by October 15. — Daniel J. Boorstin

We are here speaking in open disapproval of that false system of philosophy, not so long ago introduced, by which, because of an extended and unbridled desire of novelty, truth is not sought where it truly resides, and, with a disregard for the holy and apostolic traditions, other vain, futile, uncertain doctrines, not approved by the Church are accepted as true, on which very vain men mistakenly think that truth itself is supported and sustained. — Pope Gregory XVI

The universe is not rich enough to buy the vote of an honest man. — Pope Gregory I

In 1231, Pope Gregory ordered the Dominicans to take charge of papal courts and decisions and so prevent mob rule and guarantee that the accused received a fair trial and the right of defence. This was the foundation of the Inquisition, and it was a move to organize, control, and limit violence, disruption, and division. Of course, it often failed and even achieved the opposite of its stated and original purpose, but it's surprising how often in an age of casual and brutal violence a relative moderation and legality was achieved. Civil law was far harsher than canon law, demanding confiscation of a heretic's property and usually death, something the Church had tried to prevent for generations. — Michael Coren

I despise the proper constructions and cases, because I think it very unfitting that the words of the celestial oracle should be restricted by the rules of Donatus [a well-known grammarian]. — Pope Gregory I

I have loved justice and hated iniquity: therefore I die in exile. — Pope Gregory VII

That it has pleased God to make Holy Scripture obscure in certain places lest, if it were perfectly clear to all, it might be vulgarized and subjected to disrespect or be so misunderstood by people of limited intelligence as to lead them into error. — Pope Gregory VII

What do they not see, who see Him Who sees all things? — Pope Gregory I

It is the custom of the Roman Church which I unworthily serve with the help of God, to tolerate some things, to turn a blind eye to some, following the spirit of discretion rather than the rigid letter of the law. — Pope Gregory VII

Scriptura sacra mentis oculis quasi quoddam speculum opponitur, ut interna nostra facies in ipsa videatur. Holy scripture is placed before the eyes of our mind like a mirror, so that we may view our inner face therein. — Pope Gregory I