(The following are excerpts from an address given recently by Pope Benedict XVI at Rome’s Rebbiba Prison. Although he was speaking specifically to the inmates, he is also speaking in general to us all.)
Dear brothers and sisters,
With great…

)—“Each year, on the occasion of Lent, the Church invites us to a sincere review of our life in light of the teachings of the Gospel. This year, I would like to offer you some reflections on the great theme…

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Rome and throughout the world,
and all men and women, whom the Lord loves!
“Lux fulgebit hodie super nos,
quia natus est nobis Dominus.”

“A light will shine on us this day,
the Lord…

Dear Brothers and Sisters!
“A child is born for us, a son is given to us” (Is 9:5).
What Isaiah prophesied as he gazed into the future from afar, consoling Israel amid its trials and its darkness, is now…

Dear Brothers and Sisters,
In my last Catechesis I presented the main features of 12th-century monastic theology and scholastic theology which, in a certain sense, we might call respectively “theology of the heart” and “theology of reason”. Among the exponents…

Indeed, when Jesus begins to speak openly of the fate that awaits him in Jerusalem, in other words that he will have to suffer many things and be killed in order subsequently to be raised, Peter protests saying: “God forbid,…

THE HUMAN FAMILY, A COMMUNITY OF PEACE
1. At the beginning of a New Year, I wish to send my fervent good wishes for peace, together with a heartfelt message of hope to men and women throughout the world. I…

Today in the Apostolic Palace at Castelgandolfo, Benedict XVI received a group of around 100 recently-appointed bishops who are participating in a training seminar promoted by the Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples.”The congress in which you are participating”, the…

"The time came for Mary to be delivered. And she gave birth to her first- born Son and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn," said…

[Editor's note: This is part 3 of 3. Part 1 is available here. Part 2 is available here.]
"Dare to Love" by Following the Example of the Saints
My dear young friends, I want to invite you to "dare to…