Paul Keenan“We Europeans represent a form of Christianity that sometimes seems to be tired, suffering from fatigue.”
Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Pontifical Council for Culture, addressing a gathering of African bishops in the Vatican.
"If measures are not taken soon, in 10 years' time there will only be a few thousand Christians left in Iraq.”
Patriarch Louis Raphael Sako highlights the tide of Christian migration still ongoing from Iraq.
“The work and witness of both Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II shaped not only the Catholic Church but the world.”
US President Barack Obama pays tribute to the newly canonised Saints John Paul II and John XXIII.
“I know that there are dangers. I trust in God and the Virgin Mary.”
Sister Maria Nazareth, a nun of the Institute of the Incarnate Word, who is travelling to Aleppo in Syria to assist two other sisters currently helping the community there.
“I tried to walk the road of celibacy…but since 2007 I have realised more and more that I am just not up to it. I have known for some years now that the oath I took after just two and a half years of seminary training was too rushed, and did not reflect the constitution of my character."
German Fr Stefan Hartmann, who, having admitted fathering a child, wrote to Pope Francis to appeal for an exemption to his celibacy oath so as to remain a priest.
“I will officially restrict the presence of weapons in our Catholic institutions except for those carried by the people that civic authorities have designated and trained to protect and guard us – and those who are duly authorised law and military officials.”
Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta, USA, reacts to new legislation in Georgia allowing gun owners to bear arms in church, schools and other locations.
“While he is doing some of the same things that Pontiffs before him did, [Pope Francis] does it with such simplicity and joy and naturalness that I think he's captured the imagination of people in the United States – the churched and the unchurched alike.”
Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, USA, sums up the impact of Pope Francis on Americans.