Catholic Social Justice Quotes

“Human action that aborts nature’s possibilities by wreaking harm to ecosystems and other creatures is nothing less than a profoundly sinful violation against life. It shortchanges nature’s promise, killing off what might yet be. In so doing, it frustrates God’s own creative vision for the future of this universe.”

“In order to change the course we are on, we need to change the stories we tell about ourselves, our region, and our place in the whole of creation. Only then can we construct, from below, the new economies and ‘a new way of sharing this planet’ that we need in order to do life differently. More than ever, we need new stories about creation and the purpose of human life, drawn from the best of our wisdom traditions. And we in Appalachia, in all of our diversity, must take our place in the story in new ways that help us find liberation from the stories that have thus far often led to death and destruction.”

“We must have a change of consciousness, as human beings, as Christians. We have to change our whole consciousness to one that is more centered on ourselves as one of many living species. We’re not so important. The whole idea that we have to be number one has shifted. Earth can take care of herself if we leave her alone. This is our call as social justice-Catholics, as socially involved Christians.”

“We must care for Earth and each other by our own actions, by engaging in dialogue with others, and pressing our lawmakers to prioritize bold action to turn the tide for climate justice.”

“We need to be poor with the poor and reappropriate a kind and tender relationship with Mother-Earth. Then we will know how to act.”

“Human beings legitimately exercise a responsible stewardship over nature, in order to protect it, to enjoy its fruits and to cultivate it in new ways, with the assistance of advanced technologies, so that it can worthily accommodate and feed the world’s population. On this earth there is room for everyone: here the entire human family must find the resources to live with dignity, through the help of nature itself — God’s gift to his children — and through hard work and creativity. At the same time we must recognize our grave duty to hand the earth on to future generations in such a condition that they too can worthily inhabit it and continue to cultivate it. … The protection of the environment, of resources and of the climate obliges all international leaders to act jointly and to show a readiness to work in good faith, respecting the law and promoting solidarity with the weakest regions of the planet.”

“What is required is an act of repentance on our part and a renewed attempt to view ourselves, one another, and the world around us within the perspective of the divine design for creation. The problem is not simply economic and technological; it is moral and spiritual. A solution at the economic and technological level can be found only if we undergo, in the most radical way, an inner change of heart, which can lead to a change in lifestyle and of unsustainable patterns of consumption and production. A genuine conversion in Christ will enable us to change the way we think and act.”

“On the other hand, the earth is ultimately a common heritage, the fruits of which are for the benefit of all. In the words of the Second Vatican Council, ‘God destined the earth and all it contains for the use of every individual and all peoples’ (Gaudium et Spes, 69). This has direct consequences for the problem at hand. It is manifestly unjust that a privileged few should continue to accumulate excess goods, squandering available resources, while masses of people are living in conditions of misery at the very lowest level of subsistence. Today, the dramatic threat of ecological breakdown is teaching us the extent to which greed and selfishness – both individual and collective – are contrary to the order of creation, an order which is characterized by mutual interdependence”.

“Working for the common good requires us to promote the flourishing of all human life and all of God’s creation. In a special way, the common good requires solidarity with the poor who are often without the resources to face many problems, including the potential impacts of climate change. Our obligations to the one human family stretch across space and time. They tie us to the poor in our midst and across the globe, as well as to future generations. The commandment to love our neighbor invites us to consider the poor and marginalized of other nations as true brothers and sisters who share with us the one table of life intended by God for the enjoyment of all.”

“A just and sustainable society and world are not an optional ideal, but a moral and practical necessity. Without justice, a sustainable economy will be beyond reach. Without an ecologically responsible world economy, justice will be unachievable. To accomplish either is an enormous task; together they seem overwhelming. But “[a]ll things are possible” to those who hope in God (Mk 10:27). Hope is the virtue at the heart of a Christian environmental ethic. Hope gives us the courage, direction, and energy required for this arduous common endeavor.”

“We often use the word progress to describe what has taken place over the past few decades.  There is no denying that in some areas our roads have improved and that electricity is more readily available. But can we say that there is it real progress?  Who has benefitted most and who has borne the real costs?  The poor are as disadvantaged as ever and the natural world has been grievously wounded.  We have stripped it bare, silenced its sounds and banished other creatures, from the community of the living.  Through our thoughtlessness and greed we have sinned against God and His creation. One thing is certain:  we cannot continue to ignore and disregard the Earth.”

“Every creature, particularly a living creature, has an intrinsic value, in its existence, its life, its beauty and its interdependence with other creatures. We Christians, together with the other monotheistic religions, believe that the universe is the fruit of a loving decision by the Creator, who permits humans respectfully to use creation for the good of their fellow humans and for the glory of the Creator; people are not authorized to abuse it, much less to destroy it.”

“We are faced not with two separate crises, one environmental and the other social, but rather with one complex crisis which is both social and environmental. Strategies for a solution demand an integrated approach to combating poverty, restoring dignity to the excluded, and at the same time protecting nature.”

“This lack of physical contact and encounter, encouraged at times by the disintegration of our cities, can lead to a numbing of conscience and to tendentious analyses which neglect parts of reality. At times this attitude exists side by side with a “green” rhetoric. Today, however, we have to realize that a true ecological approach always becomes a social approach; it must integrate questions of justice in debates on the environment, so as to hear both the cry of the earth and the cry of the poor.”

“We human beings are not only the beneficiaries but also the stewards of other creatures. Thanks to our bodies, God has joined us so closely to the world around us that we can feel the desertification of the soil almost as a physical ailment, and the extinction of a species as a painful disfigurement. Let us not leave in our wake a swath of destruction and death which will affect our own lives and those of future generations.”

“The vocation of being a “protector”, however, is not just something involving us Christians alone; it also has a prior dimension which is simply human, involving everyone. It means protecting all creation, the beauty of the created world, as the Book of Genesis tells us and as Saint Francis of Assisi showed us. It means respecting each of God’s creatures and respecting the environment in which we live.”

“Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what God has made.”

“In front of the throne was something that resembled a sea of glass like crystal. In the center and around the throne, there were four living creatures covered with eyes in front and in back. The first creature resembled a lion, the second was like a calf, the third had a face like that of a human being, and the fourth looked like an eagle* in flight. The four living creatures, each of them with six wings,* were covered with eyes inside and out. Day and night they do not stop exclaiming: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.” Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before the one who sits on the throne and worship him, who lives forever and ever. They throw down their crowns before the throne, exclaiming:  “Worthy are you, Lord our God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things; because of your will they came to be and were created.”

“Are not five sparrows sold for two small coins? Yet not one of them has escaped the notice of God.”

“Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they? Can any of you by worrying add a single moment to your life-span? Why are you anxious about clothes? Learn from the way the wild flowers grow. They do not work or spin. But I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was clothed like one of them.”

“Then the wolf shall be a guest of the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat; the calf and the young lion shall browse together, with a little child to guide them. The cow and the bear shall graze, together their young shall lie down; the lion shall eat hay like the ox.  The baby shall play by the viper’s den, and the child lay his hand on the adder’s lair. They shall not harm or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea.”

“For the leader. A psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God; the firmament proclaims the works of his hands. Day unto day pours forth speech; night unto night whispers knowledge. There is no speech, no words; their voice is not heard”

“But now ask the beasts to teach you, the birds of the air to tell you; or speak to the earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this? In his hand is the soul of every living thing, and the life breath of all mortal flesh.”

“For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce. But during the seventh year the land shall have a Sabbath of complete rest, a Sabbath for the LORD, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. The after growth of your harvest you shall not reap, nor shall you pick the grapes of your untrimmed vines. It shall be a year of rest for the land.”

“So the LORD God formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each living creature was then its name.”

“The LORD God then took the man and settled him in the Garden of Eden, to cultivate and care for it.”

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.”

“Employers able to work together with workers and sharing gains and profits will lead to a much better world, getting away from income inequality.”

“Everyone has been made for some particular work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.”

“In keeping with our faith’s social justice tradition, I strongly support a key element of President Obama’s agenda, which is to raise the minimum wage. Ultimately, the minimum wage should be a living wage, providing low-wage workers with what they need to rise out of poverty and care for their families. That is justice.”

“An economy thrives only when it is centered on the dignity and well-being of the workers and families in it. As pastors and service providers, we see every day the consequences when society fails to honor this priority. A full-year, full-time worker earning the federal minimum wage does not make enough to raise a child free from poverty. Because the federal minimum wage is a static number and does not change, each year it becomes more difficult for low-wage workers to make ends meet… Protecting low-wage workers and promoting their ability to form and nurture families are shared responsibilities and critical to building a more equitable society.”

“What we would like to do is change the world–make it a little simpler for people to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves as God intended them to do. And, by fighting for better conditions, by crying out unceasingly for the rights of the workers, the poor, of the destitute–the rights of the worthy and the unworthy poor, in other words–we can, to a certain extent, change the world; we can work for the oasis, the little cell of joy and peace in a harried world. We can throw our pebble in the pond and be confident that its ever widening circle will reach around the world. We repeat, there is nothing we can do but love, and, dear God, please enlarge our hearts to love each other, to love our neighbor, to love our enemy as our friend.”

“The oppressed workers, above all, ought to be liberated from the savagery of greedy men, who inordinately use human beings as things for gain. Assuredly, neither justice nor humanity can countenance the exaction of so much work that the spirit is dulled from excessive toil and that along with it the body sinks crushed from exhaustion. The working energy of a man, like his entire nature, is circumscribed by definite limits beyond which it cannot go.”

“In protecting the rights of private individuals, however, special consideration must be given to the weak and the poor. For the nation, as it were, of the rich, is guarded by its own defenses and is in less need of governmental protection, whereas the suffering multitude, without the means to protect itself, relies especially on the protection of the State. Wherefore, since wage workers are numbered among the great mass of the needy, the State must include them under its special care and foresight.”

“I would like to remind everyone, especially governments engaged in boosting the world’s economic and social assets, that the primary capital to be safeguarded and valued is man and woman, the human person in his or her integrity: “Humans are the source, the focus and the aim of all economic and social life.”

“As the Church solemnly reaffirmed in the recent Council, “the beginning, the subject and the goal of all social institutions is and must be the human person.” All people have the right to work, to a chance to develop their qualities and their personalities in the exercise of their professions, to equitable remuneration which will enable them and their families “to lead a worthy life on the material, social, cultural and spiritual level” and to assistance in case of need arising from sickness or age.”

“All these rights, together with the need for the workers themselves to secure them, give rise to yet another right: the right of association, that is to form associations for the purpose of defending the vital interests of those employed in the various professions. These associations are called labor or trade unions.”

“All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions, as well as to organize and join unions or other associations.”

“In many cases, poverty results from a violation of the dignity of human work, either because work opportunities are limited (through unemployment or underemployment), or ‘because a low value is put on work and the rights that flow from it, especially the right to a just wage and to the personal security of the worker and his or her family.’”

“There is no worse material poverty, I am keen to stress, than the poverty which prevents people from earning their bread and deprives them of the dignity of work.”

“The obligation to earn one’s bread by the sweat of one’s brow also presumes the right to do so. A society in which this right is systematically denied, in which economic policies do not allow workers to reach satisfactory levels of employment, cannot be justified from an ethical point of view, nor can that society attain social peace.”

“Here we find a new limit on the market: there are collective and qualitative needs which cannot be satisfied by market mechanisms. There are important human needs which escape its logic.”

“However true it may be that man is destined for work and called to it, in the first place work is “for man” and not man “for work.”

“Unfortunately, especially when there is a crisis and the need is pressing, inhumane work increases, slave-labor, work without the proper security or respect for creation, or without respect for rest, celebrations and the family and work on Sundays when it isn’t necessary. Work must be combined with the preservation of creation so that this may be responsibly safeguarded for future generations.”

“The fundamental right to employment should not be dismantled. This cannot be considered a variable dependent on financial and monetary markets. It is a fundamental good in regard to dignity, to the formation of a family, to the realization of the common good and of peace.”

“It is hard to have dignity without work. This is your difficulty here. This is the prayer you were crying out from this place: ‘work’, ‘work’, ‘work’. It is a necessary prayer. Work means dignity, work means taking food home, work means loving!”

“Where there is no work there is no dignity! … [lack of work] is the result of a global decision, of an economic system which leads to this tragedy; an economic system centered on an idol called ‘money’”

“Work is fundamental to the dignity of a person. Work, to use an image, “anoints” us with dignity, fills us with dignity, makes us similar to God, who has worked and still works, who always acts…”

“How many people worldwide are victims of this type of slavery, in which the person is at the service of his or her work, while work should offer a service to people so they may have dignity. I ask my brothers and sisters in faith and all men and women of good will for a decisive choice to combat trafficking in persons, which includes “slave labor.”

“I address a strong appeal from my heart that the dignity and safety of the worker always be protected.”

“Humans are not in charge today, money is in charge, money rules. God our Father did not give the task of caring for the earth to money, but to us, to men and women: we have this task! Instead, men and women are sacrificed to the idols of profit and consumption: it is the “culture of waste.”

“The Church encourages those in power to be truly at the service of the common good of their peoples. She urges financial leaders to take account of ethics and solidarity. And why should they not turn to God to draw inspiration from his designs? In this way, a new political and economic mindset would arise that would help to transform the absolute dichotomy between the economic and social spheres into a healthy symbiosis.”

“The worldwide financial and economic crisis seems to highlight their distortions and above all the gravely deficient human perspective, which reduces human to one of his or her needs alone, namely, consumption. Worse yet, human beings themselves are nowadays considered as consumer goods which can be used and thrown away.”

“…the financial crisis which we are experiencing makes us forget that its ultimate origin is to be found in a profound human crisis. In the denial of the primacy of human beings! We have created new idols. The worship of the golden calf of old has found a new and heartless image in the cult of money and the dictatorship of an economy which is faceless and lacking any truly humane goal.”

“People have to struggle to live and, frequently, to live in an undignified way. One cause of this situation, in my opinion, is in the relationship with money, and our acceptance of its power over ourselves and our society.”

“I think of the difficulties which, in various countries, today afflicts the world of work and business; I think of how many, and not just young people, are unemployed, many times due to a purely economic conception of society, which seeks selfish profit, beyond the parameters of social justice”

“Behold, the wages you withheld from the workers who harvested your fields are crying aloud, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on earth in luxury and pleasure; you have fattened your hearts for the day of slaughter. You have condemned; you have murdered the righteous one; he offers you no resistance.”

“The workers who were hired about five in the afternoon came and each received a denarius. So when those came who were hired first, they expected to receive more. But each one of them also received a denarius. When they received it, they began to grumble against the landowner. ‘These who were hired last worked only one hour,’ they said, ‘and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the work and the heat of the day.’ “But he answered one of them, ‘I am not being unfair to you, friend. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Take your pay and go. I want to give the one who was hired last the same as I gave you. Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ “So the last will be first and the first will be last.”

“Six days you may labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the LORD your God. You shall not do any work, either you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or donkey or any work animal, or the resident alien within your gates, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do.”

“On the seventh day God completed the work she had been doing; God rested on the seventh day from all the work that had been undertaken. God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work done in creation”

“Woe to him or her who builds their palace by unrighteousness, their upper rooms by injustice, making their own people work for nothing, not paying them for their labor.”

“You shall not withhold the wages of poor and needy laborers, whether other Israelites or aliens who reside in your land in one of your towns.”

“You shall not defraud your neighbor; you shall not steal; and you shall not keep for yourself the wages of a laborer until morning”

“People of faith need to understand that ‘black lives matter’ is a faith issue, that it’s rooted in something as old as our belief in creation, that if God created all of God’s children with inimitable dignity, then the church needs to be in the forefront of advancing human dignity, whenever that is threatened or whenever that is undermined.”

“In the United States we often take on the role of conquistador –– we take over and make things right. We need to step back and do things with respect. Every person has a story different from our own and we need to honor and respect that.”

We live in a world that has become a global village. There is no escape from people and groups who are different from us – in race, in culture, in religion, in political ideology, et cetera. I do not believe that it is enough to be tolerant with one another, to live and let live. I feel real effort is needed to try to understand each other, to have honest, even difficult, confrontation about each other’s differences, to accept these differences and to purge one’s own prejudices and unconscious racism or bigotry. Then we must forge a common commitment to the human race and struggle against all forms of discrimination and exclusion and engage in common efforts to bring about a more just, humane society and to save our planet from ecological disaster. Only then can we truly call each other sisters and brothers.

“In Louisville, at the corner of Fourth and Walnut, in the center of the shopping district, I was suddenly overwhelmed with the realization that I loved all those people, that they were mine and I theirs, that we could not be alien to one another even though we were total strangers. It was like waking from a dream of separateness, of spurious self-isolation in a special world, the world of renunciation and supposed holiness… This sense of liberation from an illusory difference was such a relief and such a joy to me that I almost laughed out loud… I have the immense joy of being man, a member of a race in which God Himself became incarnate. As if the sorrows and stupidities of the human condition could overwhelm me, now I realize what we all are. And if only everybody could realize this! But it cannot be explained. There is no way of telling people that they are all walking around shining like the sun.”

“A life not lived for others is not a life.”

“There’s nothing more calming in difficult moments that knowing there’s someone fighting with you.”

“A nation is formed by the willingness of each of us to share in the responsibility for upholding the common good.”

“When it all boils down, it’s about embracing each other’s stories and maybe even finding that synergy to collaborate for the common good.”

“It is difficult for the common good to prevail against the intense concentration of those who have a special interest, especially if the decisions are made behind locked doors.”

“Law is nothing other than a certain ordinance of reason for the common good, promulgated by the person who has the care of the community.”

“It is good for people to realize that purchasing  is always a moral — and not simply economic — act. Hence the consumer has a  specific social responsibility, which goes hand-in- hand with the social  responsibility of the enterprise. Consumers should be continually educated regarding their daily role, which can be exercised with respect for moral  principles without diminishing the intrinsic economic rationality of the act of  purchasing… It can be helpful to promote new ways of marketing products from deprived areas of the world, so as to guarantee their producers a decent return.”

“The solidarity which binds all people together as members of a common family makes  it impossible for wealthy nations to look with indifference upon the hunger,  misery and poverty of other nations whose citizens are unable to enjoy even  elementary human rights. The nations of the world are becoming more and more dependent  on one another and it will not be possible to preserve a lasting peace so long  as glaring economic and social imbalances persist.”

“To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take  effective steps to secure it.  Besides  the good of the individual, there is the good that is linked to living in  society: the common good.  It is the good  of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who  together constitute society.  … To desire  the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity.”

“Interdependence must be transformed into solidarity, based upon the principle that the goods of creation are meant for all. That which human industry produces through the processing of raw materials, with the contribution of  work, must serve equally for the good of all.”

“The obligation to “love our neighbor” has an individual dimension, but it also requires a broader social commitment to the common good. We have many partial ways to measure and debate the health of our economy: Gross National Product, per capita income, stock market prices, and so forth. The Christian vision of economic life looks beyond them all and asks, Does economic life enhance or threaten our life together as a community?

“We have to move from our devotion to independence, through an understanding of interdependence, to a commitment to human solidarity. That challenge must find its realization in the kind of community we build among us. Love implies  concern for all – especially the poor – and a continued search for those social  and economic structures that permit everyone to share in a community that is a  part of a redeemed creation (Rom 8:21-23).”

“At another level, the roots of the  contradiction between the solemn affirmation of human rights and their tragic  denial in practice lies in a notion of freedom which exalts the isolated  individual in an absolute way, and gives no place to solidarity, to openness to  others and service of them. . . It is precisely in this sense that Cain’s answer to the Lord’s question: “Where is Abel your brother?” can be interpreted: “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” (Gen 4:9).  Yes, every human is his or her “brother and sister’s keeper”, because God entrusts us to  one another.”

“To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity…. The more we strive to secure a common good corresponding to the real needs of our neighbors, the more effectively we love them. Every Christian is called to practice this charity, in a manner corresponding to his vocation and according to the degree of influence they wield in the [state]. This is the institutional path–we might also call it the political path—of charity, no less excellent and effective than the kind of charity which encounters the neighbor directly…”

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.”

“Our way of asking and responding to questions, the tone we use, our timing and any number of other factors condition how well we communicate. We need to develop certain attitudes that express love and encourage authentic dialogue.”

“There is no such thing as low-cost Christianity. Following Jesus means swimming against the tide, renouncing evil and selfishness.”

“We have observed that, in society and the world in which we live, selfishness has increased more than love for others, and that people of good will must work, each with their own strengths and expertise, to ensure that love for others increases until it is equal and possibly exceeds love for oneself.”

“The dignity of each human person and the pursuit of the common good are concerns which ought to shape all economic policies.”

“Politics, according to the Social Doctrine of the Church, is one of the highest forms of charity, because it serves the common good. I cannot wash my hands, eh? We all have to give something!”

“The human person and human dignity risk being turned into vague abstractions in the face of issues like the use of force, war, malnutrition, marginalization, violence, the violation of basic liberties, and financial speculation, which presently affects the price of food, treating it like any other merchandise and overlooking its primary function. Our duty is to continue to insist, in the present international context, that the human person and human dignity are not simply catchwords, but pillars for creating shared rules and structures capable of passing beyond purely pragmatic or technical approaches in order to eliminate divisions and to bridge existing differences. In this regard, there is a need to oppose the shortsighted economic interests and the mentality of power of a relative few who exclude the majority of the world’s peoples, generating poverty and marginalization and causing a breakdown in society. There is likewise a need to combat the corruption which creates privileges for some and injustices for many others.”

The way we came to know love was that he laid down his life for us; so we ought to lay down our lives for our sisters and brothers. If someone who has worldly means sees a sibling in need and refuses him or her compassion, how can the love of God remain in that person? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.

Owe nothing to anyone, except to love one another; for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not kill; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this saying, [namely] “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law.

Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.

For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so you will fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks she or he is something when she or he is nothing, she or he is deluded. Each one must examine one’s own work, and then will have reason to boast with regard to oneself alone, and not with regard to someone else; for each will bear one’s own load.

Above all, let your love for one another be intense, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaining. As each one has received a gift, use it to serve one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace. Whoever preaches, let it be with the words of God; whoever serves, let it be with the strength that God supplies, so that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of one’s possessions was one’s own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.

Awe came upon everyone, and many wonders and signs were done through the apostles. All who believed were together and had all things in common; they would sell their property and possessions and divide them among all according to each one’s need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple area and to breaking bread in their homes. They ate their meals with exultation and sincerity of heart, praising God and enjoying favor with all the people. And every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.

For the sake of my sisters, brothers, and friends I say, “Peace be with you.” For the sake of the house of the LORD, our God, I pray for your good.

A song of ascents. Of David. How good and how pleasant it is, when sisters and brothers dwell together as one! Like fine oil on the head, running down upon the beard, upon the beard of Aaron, upon the collar of his robe. Like dew of Hermon coming down upon the mountains of Zion. There the LORD has decreed a blessing, life for evermore!

You have been told, O mortal, what is good, and what the LORD requires of you: Only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk humbly with your God.

“I believe that we must stand together in the values and principles that we believe in, that we should not hold back from speaking out and living our  faith, especially when we see things that are not right. Our responsibility as Christians is to defend the rights and dignity of those who are most vulnerable and powerless in our society, and it’s not okay to be quiet. Sometimes fear can blind us to true reality that we are all one in God. As one people we can stand together and feel the courage to do what is right: that is what the Church of tomorrow should be like.” 

“Do not romanticize the poor…We are all people, human beings subject to the same temptations and faults as all others. Our poverty damages our dignity.”

“The trickle-down theory, or more recently known as trickle-down economics, is essentially that a lot of money at the top will eventually mean a lot of money for the people at the bottom of the economic scale. This theory has also been applied to other areas of inequality, such as access to education or jobs. But the theory doesn’t hold up. From my 24 years of ministering in rural Mississippi, I sure haven’t seen any trickle down. The gap between the haves and the have-nots is a given in this state: One that is embedded in its very culture.”

“Our life of poverty is as necessary as the work itself. Only in heaven will we see how much we owe to the poor for helping us to love God better because of them.”

“We are the nation the most powerful, the most armed and we are supplying arms and money to the rest of the world where we are not ourselves fighting. We are eating while there is famine in the world.”

“We must talk about poverty, because people insulated by their own comfort lose sight of it.”

“And the fact is that we are good people, and we might very well be inclined to help. But what we have to realize is that when we, like the host in the parable, take seriously the command to invite the poor and the oppressed to the Banquet of our Lives, we stop being in-charge. We will not be able to control their behavior, their needs will be different from our needs, their vision of what our society, our world, should be will most probably be different from ours. Once we invite the poor and the oppressed to the banquet, they will change the banquet.”

“To make an option for the poor is to make an option for Jesus.”

“The obligation to provide justice for all means that the poor have the single most urgent economic claim on the conscience of the nation.”

“If someone who has the riches of this world sees their sister or brother in need and closes their heart to them, how does the love of God abide in them?” (1 John 3:17) It is well known how strong were the words used by the Fathers of the Church to describe the proper attitude of persons who possess anything towards persons in need. To quote Saint Ambrose: “You are not making a gift of your possessions to the poor person. You are handing over to them what is theirs. For what has been given in common for the use of all, you have arrogated to yourself. The world is given to all, and not only to the rich.”

“While an immense mass of people still lack the absolute necessities of life, some, even is less advanced countries, live sumptuously or squander wealth. Luxury and misery rub shoulders. While the few more enjoy very great freedom of choice, the many are deprived of almost all possibility of acting on their own initiative and responsibility, and often subsist in living and working conditions unworthy of human beings.”

“It is not wrong to want to live better; what is wrong is a style of life, which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards ‘having’ rather than ‘being’.”

“The prime purpose of this special commitment to the poor is to enable them to become active participants in the life of society. It is to enable all persons to share in and contribute to the common good. The ‘option for the poor,’ therefore, is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community. The extent of their suffering is a measure of how far we are from being a true community of persons. These wounds will be healed only by greater solidarity with the poor and among the poor themselves.”

“As followers of Christ, we are challenged to make a fundamental ‘option for the poor’ – to speak for the voiceless, to defend the defenseless, to impact on the poor…..As Christians, we are called to respond to the needs of all our sisters and brothers, but those with the greatest needs require the greatest response.”

“When there is a question of protecting the rights of individuals, the poor and helpless have a claim to special consideration. The rich population has many ways of protecting themselves, and stands less in need of help.”

“I would like to ask all those who have positions of responsibility in economic, political and social life, and all men and women of goodwill: let us be ‘protectors’ of creation, protectors of God’s plan inscribed in nature, protectors of one another and of the environment.”

“Doubly poor are those women who endure situations of exclusion, mistreatment and violence, since they are frequently less able to defend their rights. Even so, we constantly witness among them impressive examples of daily heroism in defending and protecting their vulnerable families.”

“Consumerism has accustomed us to waste. But throwing food away is like stealing it from the poor and hungry.”

“The need to resolve the structural causes of poverty cannot be delayed, not only for the pragmatic reason of its urgency for the good order of society, but because society needs to be cured of a sickness which is weakening and frustrating it, and which can only lead to new crises.”

“Without the preferential option for the poor, ‘the proclamation of the Gospel, which is itself the prime form of charity, risks being misunderstood or submerged by the ocean of words which daily engulfs us in today’s society of mass communications’.”

“The poor person, when loved, “is esteemed as of great value”,[168] and this is what makes the authentic option for the poor differ from any other ideology, from any attempt to exploit the poor for one’s own personal or political interest. Only on the basis of this real and sincere closeness can we properly accompany the poor on their path of liberation.”

“This is why I want a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us. Not only do they share in the sensus fidei, but in their difficulties they know the suffering Christ. We need to let ourselves be evangelized by them.”

“With the “culture of waste”, human life is no longer considered the primary value to be respected and protected.”

“God’s heart has a special place for the poor, so much so that God “became poor” (2 Cor 8:9). The entire history of our redemption is marked by the presence of the poor. Salvation came to us from the “yes” uttered by a lowly maiden from a small town on the fringes of a great empire. The Savior was born in a manger, in the midst of animals, like children of poor families; he was presented at the Temple along with two turtledoves, the offering made by those who could not afford a lamb (cf. Lk 2:24; Lev 5:7); he was raised in a home of ordinary workers and worked with his own hands to earn his bread.”

“A way has to be found to enable everyone to benefit from the fruits of the earth, and not simply to close the gap between the affluent and those who must be satisfied with the crumbs falling from the table, but above all to satisfy the demands of justice, fairness and respect for every human being.”

“The times talk to us of so much poverty in the world and this is a scandal. Poverty in the world is a scandal. In a world where there is so much wealth, so many resources to feed everyone, it is unfathomable that there are so many hungry children, that there are so many children without an education, so many poor persons. Poverty today is a cry.”

“Take care of God’s creation. But above all, take care of people in need.”

“I want to say, with regret, that the worst discrimination which the poor suffer is the lack of spiritual care. The great majority of the poor have a special openness to the faith; they need God and we must not fail to offer them God’s friendship, God’s blessing, God’s word, the celebration of the sacraments and a journey of growth and maturity in the faith. Our preferential option for the poor must mainly translate into a privileged and preferential religious care.”

“True charity requires courage: let us overcome the fear of getting our hands dirty so as to help those in need.”

“To live charitably means not looking out for our own interests, but carrying the burdens of the weakest and poorest among us.”

“In this context we can understand Jesus’ command to his disciples: “You yourselves give them something to eat!” (Mk 6:37): it means working to eliminate the structural causes of poverty and to promote the integral development of the poor, as well as small daily acts of solidarity in meeting the real needs which we encounter. The word “solidarity” is a little worn and at times poorly understood, but it refers to something more than a few sporadic acts of generosity.”

“Each individual Christian and every community is called to be an instrument of God for the liberation and promotion of the poor, and for enabling them to be fully a part of society. This demands that we be docile and attentive to the cry of the poor and to come to their aid.”

“Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.”

“How I would like a church that is poor and for the poor.”

If someone who has worldly means sees a sister or brother in need and refuses her or him compassion, how can the love of God remain in this person? Children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.

And raising his eyes toward his disciples he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who are now weeping, for you will laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man. Rejoice and leap for joy on that day! Behold, your reward will be great in heaven. For their ancestors treated the prophets in the same way.

He came to Nazareth, where he had grown up, and went according to his custom into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah. He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because God has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor. God has sent me to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Lord.”

Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me, in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him and say, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? When did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you ill or in prison, and visit you?’ And the king will say to them in reply, ‘Amen, I say to you, whatever you did for one of these least sisters and brothers of mine, you did for me.’

“Is this the manner of fasting I would choose, a day to afflict oneself? To bow one’s head like a reed, and lie upon sackcloth and ashes? Is this what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is this not, rather, the fast that I choose: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking off every yoke? Is it not sharing your bread with the hungry, bringing the afflicted and the homeless into your house; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own flesh.”

“For you have been a refuge to the poor, a refuge to the needy in their distress; Shelter from the rain, shade from the heat. When the blast of the ruthless was like a winter rain, the roar of strangers like heat in the desert, You subdued the heat with the shade of a cloud, the rain of the tyrants was vanquished.”

“My child, do not mock the life of the poor; do not keep needy eyes waiting. Do not grieve the hungry, nor anger the needy. Do not aggravate a heart already angry, nor delay giving to the needy. A beggar’s request do not reject; do not turn your face away from the poor. From the needy do not turn your eyes; do not give them reason to curse you. If in their pain they cry out bitterly, their Rock will hear the sound of their cry. Endear yourself to the assembly; before the city’s ruler bow your head. Give a hearing to the poor, and return their greeting with deference; Deliver the oppressed from their oppressors; right judgment should not be repugnant to you. Be like a parent to orphans, and take the place of a spouse to widows. Then God will call you God’s child, and God will be merciful to you and deliver you from the pit.”

“Open your mouth in behalf of the mute, and for the rights of the destitute; Open your mouth, judge justly, defend the needy and the poor!”

“People are shaken, and pass away, the powerful are removed without lifting a hand; For God’s eyes are upon our ways, and all our steps God sees. There is no darkness so dense that evildoers can hide in it. For no one has God set a time to come before God in judgment. Without inquiry God shatters the mighty, and appoints others in their place, Thus God discerns their works; overnight they are crushed. Where the wicked are, God strikes them, in a place where all can see, Because they turned away from God and did not understand God’s ways at all: And made the cry of the poor reach God, so that God heard the cry of the afflicted.”

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not be so thorough that you reap the field to its very edge, nor shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Likewise, you shall not pick your vineyard bare, nor gather up the grapes that have fallen. These things you shall leave for the poor and the alien. I, the LORD, am your God.”

“You shall not oppress or afflict a resident alien, for you were once aliens residing in the land of Egypt. You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely listen to their cry. My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you with the sword; then your own husbands and wives will be widows, and your children orphans. If you lend money to my people, the poor among you, you must not be like a money lender; you must not demand interest from them. If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, you shall return it to him or her before sunset; for this is his or her only covering; it is the cloak for his or her body. What will he or she sleep in? If he or she cries out to me, I will listen; for I am compassionate.”

“Perhaps the most critical aspect of leadership – if not the most critical aspect of being human – is living our lives truthfully and authentically. Only in living truthfully can we avoid becoming numb and complacent in the in the face of so much suffering in our city and our world. Only in living truthfully will we be able to take the necessary risks together to house, educate, and employ all people. Living truthfully draws out our deepest humanity – and makes it possible to build a more humane world.”

“We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community…Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sakes and for our own.”

“Our faith strongly affirms that we are all responsible for one another.”

“I don’t think anyone who’s called by God has an option about being political active”

“As they stand in the classroom, or operating room, or on the street, many sisters have been struck by the sense of futility in that, while the task is noble, it is being blocked by the larger context, all of which negates the very message they want to be about…They are summoned by a new understanding of the Church, the social sins of their country, and by the Word of God to action in the political realm.”

“You want to really, actually learn about peace? Well, get busy doing something for justice…Each of us is called to something for our neighbors to express our love.”

“It is one thing to have a right on a piece of paper, but if you cannot express that right in the way you live, the way you vote, the way you are self-determining, something has to give.”

“I want that there should be a belief, a faith in the possibility of removing mountains to the side of right. If we believe that war is wrong, as everyone must, then we ought to believe that by proper efforts on our part, it may be done away with.”

“Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputations… can never effect a reform.”

“People have got to get together and work together. I’m tired of the kind of oppression that white people have inflicted on us and are still trying to inflict.”

“With the people, for the people, by the people. I crack up when I hear it; I say, with the handful, for the handful, by the handful, because that’s what really happens.”

“Cowardice asks the question “Is it safe?” Expediency asks the question “Is it politic?” And Vanity comes along and asks the question “Is it popular?” But Conscience asks the question “Is it right?” And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he they must do it because Conscience tells them it is right.”

“One has not only a legal, but a moral responsibility to obey just laws. Conversely, one has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.”

“The best thing to do with the best things in life is to give them up.”

“They cannot see that we must lay one brick at a time, take one step at a time.”

“We have to move from our devotion to independence, through an understanding of interdependence, to a commitment to human solidarity. That challenge must find its realization in the kind of community we build among us. Love implies  concern for all – especially the poor – and a continued search for those social  and economic structures that permit everyone to share in a community that is a  part of a redeemed creation (Rom 8:21-23).”

“Interdependence must be transformed into solidarity, based upon the principle that the goods of creation are meant for all. That which human industry produces through the processing of raw materials, with the contribution of work, must serve equally for the good of all.”

“To love someone is to desire that person’s good and to take effective steps to secure it.  Besides the good of the individual, there is the good that is linked to living in society: the common good.  It is the good of “all of us”, made up of individuals, families and intermediate groups who together constitute society.  … To desire the common good and strive towards it is a requirement of justice and charity.”

“In the Catholic Tradition, responsible citizenship is a virtue, and participation in political life is a moral obligation. This obligation is rooted in our baptismal commitment to follow Jesus Christ and to bear Christian witness in all we do. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us, ‘It is necessary that all participate, each according to their position and role, in promoting the common good. This obligation is inherent in the dignity of the human person. . . . As far as possible citizens should take an active part in public life.”

“Only tireless promotion of the truth about the human person can infuse democracy with the right values.  This is what Jesus meant when He asked us to be leaven in society. American Catholics have long sought to assimilate into U.S. cultural life.  But in assimilating, we have too often been digested.  We have been changed by our culture too much, and we have changed it not enough.  If we are leaven, we must bring to our culture the whole Gospel, which is a Gospel of life and joy.”

“The principle of participation leads us to the conviction that the most appropriate and fundamental solutions to poverty will be those that enable people to take control of their own lives.”

“Thus the person who possesses certain rights has likewise the duty to claim those rights as marks of human dignity, while all others have the obligation to acknowledge those rights and respect them.”

“Sometimes we hear: a good Catholic is not interested in politics. This is not true: good Catholics immerse themselves in politics by offering the best of themselves so that the leader can govern”

“The young, at this moment, are in crisis. We have become somewhat accustomed to this throwaway culture: too often the elderly are discarded! But now we have all these young people with no work, they too are suffering the effects of the throwaway culture. We must rid ourselves of this habit of throwing away. No! The culture of inclusion, the culture of encounter, making an effort to bring everyone into society!”

“The growth of inequality and poverty undermines inclusive and participatory democracy at risk which always presupposes an economy and an equitable and nonexclusive market. It is a question, therefore, of overcoming the structural causes of inequality and poverty. In the Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, I wished to point out three fundamental instruments for the social inclusion of the most needy: education, access to health care and employment for all.”

“I say that politics is the most important of the civil activities and has its own field of action, which is not that of religion. Political institutions are secular by definition and operate in independent spheres. All my predecessors have said the same thing, for many years at least, albeit with different accents. I believe that Catholics involved in politics carry the values of their religion within them, but have the mature awareness and expertise to implement them. The Church will never go beyond its task of expressing and disseminating its values, at least as long as I’m here.”

“A good Catholic meddles in politics, offering the best of him or herself, so that those who govern can govern.”

“As a body is one though it has many parts, and all the parts of the body, though many, are one body, so also Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons, and we were all given to drink of one Spirit. Now the body is not a single part, but many. If a foot should say, “Because I am not a hand I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. Or if an ear should say, “Because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body,” it does not for this reason belong any less to the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But as it is, God placed the parts, each one of them, in the body as he intended. If they were all one part, where would the body be? But as it is, there are many parts, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I do not need you.” Indeed, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are all the more necessary, and those parts of the body that we consider less honorable we surround with greater honor, and our less presentable parts are treated with greater propriety, whereas our more presentable parts do not need this. But God has so constructed the body as to give greater honor to a part that is without it, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the parts may have the same concern for one another. If [one] part suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”

“Brothers and sisters: Do you not know that a little yeast leavens all the dough? Clear out the old yeast, so that you may become a fresh batch of dough, inasmuch as you are unleavened. For our paschal lamb, Christ, has been sacrificed. Therefore, let us celebrate the feast, not with the old yeast, the yeast of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

“What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he or she has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him or her? If a brother or sister has nothing to wear and has no food for the day, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, keep warm, and eat well,” but you do not give them the necessities of the body, what good is it? So also faith of itself, if it does not have works, is dead.”

“As it is written: “They scatter abroad, they give to the poor; their righteousness endures forever.” The one who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed and increase the harvest of your righteousness. You are being enriched in every way for all generosity, which through us produces thanksgiving to God, for the administration of this public service is not only supplying the needs of the holy ones but is also overflowing in many acts of thanksgiving to God.”

“The community of believers was of one heart and mind, and no one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they had everything in common. With great power the apostles bore witness to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great favor was accorded them all. There was no needy person among them, for those who owned property or houses would sell them, bring the proceeds of the sale, and put them at the feet of the apostles, and they were distributed to each according to need.”

“Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

“For God rescues the poor when they cry out, the oppressed who have no one to help. God shows pity to the needy and the poor and saves the lives of the poor. From extortion and violence God redeems them, for precious is their blood in God’s sight.”

“Thus says the LORD: In a time of favor I answer you, on the day of salvation I help you; I form you and set you as a covenant for the people, To restore the land and allot the devastated heritages, To say to the prisoners: Come out! To those in darkness: Show yourselves! Along the roadways they shall find pasture, on every barren height shall their pastures be. They shall not hunger or thirst; nor shall scorching wind or sun strike them; For he who pities them leads them and guides them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roadway and make my highways level. See, these shall come from afar: some from the north and the west, others from the land of Syene. Sing out, heavens, and rejoice, earth, break forth into song, you mountains, For the LORD comforts his people and shows mercy to his afflicted.”

“Open your mouth in behalf of the mute, and for the rights of the destitute; Open your mouth, judge justly, defend the needy and the poor!”

“Through all your days, son, keep the Lord in mind, and do not seek to sin or to transgress the commandments. Perform righteous deeds all the days of your life, and do not tread the paths of wickedness. For those who act with fidelity, all who practice righteousness, will prosper in their affairs. “Give alms from your possessions. Do not turn your face away from any of the poor, so that God’s face will not be turned away from you. Give in proportion to what you own. If you have great wealth, give alms out of your abundance; if you have but little, do not be afraid to give alms even of that little. 9 You will be storing up a goodly treasure for yourself against the day of adversity. For almsgiving delivers from death and keeps one from entering into Darkness. Almsgiving is a worthy offering in the sight of the Most High for all who practice”

“When one of your kindred is reduced to poverty and becomes indebted to you, you shall support that person like a resident alien; let your kindred live with you.”

“Immigrants have an inherent dignity, a dignity given to them by God, our Creator. They are also a result of the Incarnation, the brothers and sisters of Jesus. Therefore, they have shared membership in our society and our Church as a result of their relationship with Jesus Christ. We are people of faith. We believe in the Trinity. The image and likeness of the Trinity is that we are relational, we are personal, we are mutual, we are inclusive, and we are an accompanying people.”

“We are convinced we must be people who see beyond what we can touch and weigh and measure and count. We must be people who believe — believe in the essential dignity of the human person.”

“We take care of not only the poor, the vulnerable, but ourselves best when we create a system that recognizes the dignity and worth of every single person.”

“While racism seems to get little air time in most churches, church doctrine is crystal clear on the matter. God created human kind, female and male, in God’s own image and likeness. We are all brothers and sisters, children of the same God. Each of us is granted human dignity and inalienable rights by our creator God. If somehow the creation story is not clear enough for us humans to get the point, there is also the power of the Incarnation. As we say in the creed, for our salvation Jesus “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary,” becoming a human person. We repeat these words every Sunday, but I wonder how often we consider what they truly mean. Jesus became a human person through this act of love, Emmanuel, God-with-us, pitching his tent with the human family and in so doing declaring every human life sacred. This we say we believe, and yet racism and other “isms” persist to the contrary.”

“We must stand for human dignity, respect for every person – this in the face of irresponsible capitalism, unbounded globalization and the prevalent neo-conservative outlook. Every human being is created in the image and likeness of God. Our God is a God of love — we are created in love, for love.  Thus the remarkable dignity of every person.”

“In God’s house we shall meet Buddhists and Jews, Muslims and Protestants.”

“To all of them I say: no matter your crimes. They are ugly and horrible, and you have abased the highest dignity of a human person, but God calls you and forgives you.”

“When we struggle for human rights, for freedom, for dignity, when we feel that it is a ministry of the church to concern itself for those who are hungry, for those who have no schools, for those who are deprived, we are not departing from God’s promise. God comes to free us from sin, and the church knows that sin’s consequences are all such injustices and abuses. The church knows it is saving the world when it undertakes to speak also of such things.”

In one of his Discourses, Paul VI said: “Within Christianity, more than in any other religion, and since its very beginning, women have had a special dignity, of which the New Testament shows us many important aspects…; it is evident that women are meant to form part of the living and working structure of Christianity in so prominent a manner that perhaps not all their potentialities have yet been made clear”

“This is what Saint Irenaeus of Lyons wanted to emphasize in his celebrated definition: “Humans, living humans, are the glory of God”. People have been given a sublime dignity, based on the intimate bond which unites them to their Creator: in humanity there shines forth a reflection of God.”

“On the one hand, the various declarations of human rights and the many initiatives inspired by these declarations show that at the global level there is a growing moral sensitivity, more alert to acknowledging the value and dignity of every individual as a human being, without any distinction of race, nationality, religion, political opinion or social class.”

“Whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself; whatever insults human dignity, such as subhuman living conditions, arbitrary imprisonment, deportation, slavery, prostitution, the selling of women, men, and children; as well as disgraceful working conditions, where people are treated as mere instruments of gain rather than as free and responsible persons; all these things and others like them are infamies indeed. They poison human society, and they do more harm to those who practice them than to those who suffer from the injury. Moreover, they are a supreme dishonor to the Creator.”

“Every individual, precisely by reason of the mystery of the Word of God who was made flesh (cf. Jn 1:14), is entrusted to the maternal care of the Church. Therefore every threat to human dignity and life must necessarily be felt in the Church’s very heart; it cannot but affect her at the core of her faith in the Redemptive Incarnation of the Son of God, and engage her in her mission of proclaiming the Gospel of life in all the world and to every creature (cf. Mk 16:15).”

“God calls humanity to serve in spirit and in truth, hence they are bound in conscience but they stand under no compulsion. God has regard for the dignity of the human person whom God created and people are to be guided by their own judgment and they are to enjoy freedom. This truth appears at its height in Christ Jesus, in whom God manifested herself and her ways with all people.”

“A society lacks solid foundations when, on the one hand, it asserts values such as the dignity of the person, justice and peace, but then, on the other hand, radically acts to the contrary by allowing or tolerating a variety of ways in which human life is devalued and violated, especially where it is weak or marginalized.'”

“All human beings, therefore, are ends to be served by the institutions that make up the economy, not means to be exploited for more narrowly defined goals. Human personhood must be respected with a reverence that is religious. When we deal with each other, we should do so with the sense of awe that arises in the presence of something holy and sacred. For that is what human beings are: we are created in the image of God (Gn 1:27).”

“The struggle against destitution, though urgent and necessary, is not enough. It is a question, rather, of building a world where every man, no matter what his race, religion or nationality, can live a fully human life, freed from servitude imposed on him by other men or by natural forces over which he has not sufficient control; a world where freedom is not an empty word and where the poor man Lazarus can sit down at the same table with the rich man.”

“The solidarity which binds all men together as members of a common family makes it impossible for wealthy nations to look with indifference upon the hunger, misery and poverty of other nations whose citizens are unable to enjoy even elementary human rights.”

“Every economic and political theory or action must set about providing each inhabitant of the planet with the minimum wherewithal to live in dignity and freedom, with the possibility of supporting a family, educating children, praising God and developing one’s own human potential.”

“The current crisis is not only economic and financial but is rooted in an ethical and anthropological crisis. Concern with the idols of power, profit, and money, rather than with the value of the human person has become a basic norm for functioning and a crucial criterion for organization. We have forgotten and are still forgetting that over and above business, logic and the parameters of the market is the human being; and that something is men and women in as much as they are human beings by virtue of their profound dignity: to offer them the possibility of living a dignified life and of actively participating in the common good. Benedict XVI reminded us that precisely because it is human, all human activity, including economic activity, must be ethically structured and governed (cf. Encyclical Letter Caritas in Veritate, n. 36). We must return to the centrality of the human being, to a more ethical vision of activities and of human relationships without the fear of losing something.”

“I would also like to tell you that the Church, the “advocate of justice and defender of the poor in the face of intolerable social and economic inequalities which cry to heaven” (Aparecida Document, 395), wishes to offer her support for every initiative that can signify genuine development for every person and for the whole person. Dear friends, it is certainly necessary to give bread to the hungry – this is an act of justice. But there is also a deeper hunger, the hunger for a happiness that only God can satisfy, the hunger for dignity.”

“Promoting the dignity of the person means recognizing that he or she possesses inalienable rights which no one may take away arbitrarily, much less for the sake of economic interests.”

“In the end, what kind of dignity is there without the possibility of freely expressing one’s thought or professing one’s religious faith? What dignity can there be without a clear juridical framework which limits the rule of force and enables the rule of law to prevail over the power of tyranny? What dignity can men and women ever enjoy if they are subjected to all types of discrimination? What dignity can a people ever hope to find when they lack food and the bare essentials for survival and, worse yet, when they lack the work which confers dignity?”

“To be a saint is not a privilege of a few…all of us in baptism have the inheritance of being able to become saints. Sanctity is a vocation for everyone. All of us are called to walk in the way of sanctity, and this way has a name, a face: the face of Jesus Christ.”

For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me.

Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God; everyone who loves is begotten by God and knows God. Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent God’s only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that God loved us and sent God’s Son as expiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also must love one another. No one has ever seen God. Yet, if we love one another, God remains in us, and God’s love is brought to perfection in us.

My sisters and brothers, show no partiality as you adhere to the faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ. For if a woman with gold rings on her fingers and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and a poor person in shabby clothes also comes in, and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Sit here, please,” while you say to the poor one, “Stand there,” or “Sit at my feet,” have you not made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil designs? Listen, my beloved sisters and brothers. Did not God choose those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom that God promised to those who love God? But you dishonored the poor person. Are not the rich oppressing you? And do they themselves not haul you off to court? Is it not they who blaspheme the noble name that was invoked over you? However, if you fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Do you not know that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?

There was a scholar of the law who stood up to test him and said, “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?” He said in reply, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” He replied to him, “You have answered correctly; do this and you will live.” But because he wished to justify himself, he said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Jesus replied, “A man fell victim to robbers as he went down from Jerusalem to Jericho. They stripped and beat him and went off leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down that road, but when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. Likewise a Levite came to the place, and when he saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. But a Samaritan traveler who came upon him was moved with compassion at the sight. He approached the victim, poured oil and wine over his wounds and bandaged them. Then he lifted him up on his own animal, took him to an inn and cared for him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper with the instruction, ‘Take care of him. If you spend more than what I have given you, I shall repay you on my way back.’  Which of these three, in your opinion, was neighbor to the robbers’ victim?” He answered, “The one who treated him with mercy.” Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.

You shall treat the alien who resides with you no differently than the natives born among you; you shall love the alien as yourself; for you too were once aliens in the land of Egypt

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I dedicated you, a prophet to the nations I appointed you.

You formed my inmost being; you knit me in my mother’s womb. I praise you, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are your works! My very self you know. My bones are not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, fashioned in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw me unformed; in your book all are written down; my days were shaped, before one came to be.

Then God said: Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the tame animals, all the wild animals, and all the creatures that crawl on the earth. God created humankind in God’s image; in the image of God, God created them; male and female God created them. God blessed them and God said to them: Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and all the living things that crawl on the earth. God also said: See, I give you every seed-bearing plant on all the earth and every tree that has seed-bearing fruit on it to be your food; and to all the wild animals, all the birds of the air, and all the living creatures that crawl on the earth, I give all the green plants for food. And so it happened. God looked at everything God had made, and found it very good. Evening came, and morning followed—the sixth day.