Pope Benedict XVI Quotes

God's love does not distinguish between the infant in the mother's womb or the child or the youth or the adult or the older person. In each one God sees His image and likeness. Human life is a manifestation of God and His glory.

I believe every human life is a gift from God and we should cherish and protect and celebrate them.

But whatever the Lord throws at me right now, I think I've been given more blessings than I ever deserved. If he wants to top it off with anything - boy, girl - I would love either of them.

Even the weakest and most vulnerable, the sick, the old, the unborn and the poor, are masterpieces of God's creation, made in his own image, destined to live for ever, and deserving of the utmost reverence and respect.

The best and purest human beings, from the beginning of time, have understood that life is sacred.

Music is one of the fairest and most glorious gifts of God.

If man is not made in the image of God, nothing then stands in the way of inhumanity. There is no good reason why mankind should be perceived as special. Human life is cheapened. We can see this in many of the major issues being debated in our society today.

I believe all children are - are blessings from God. And to allocate that rule to a doctor - to - to dispose of a life is uncomprehensible to me.

Because they are children and for no other reason they have dignity and worth simply because they are.

Human life must always be defended from its beginning in the womb and must be recognised as a gift of God that guarantees the future of humanity.

We cannot but recognize that, in practical terms, defending human life has become more difficult today, because a mentality has been created that progressively devalues human life and entrusts it to the judgement of individuals. A consequence deriving therefrom is lessened respect for the human person, a value that lies at the foundation of any form of civil coexistence, over and above the faith a person may profess.

How precious are the souls of men!

We are not to look to what men in themselves deserve but to attend to the image of God which exists in all and to which we owe all honor and love.

The arts put man at the center of the universe, whether he belongs there or not. Military science, on the other hand, treats man as garbage - and his children, and his cities, too. Military science is probably right about the contemptibility of man in the vastness of the universe. Still - I deny that contemptibility, and I beg you to deny it, through the creation of appreciation of art.

Madness, provided it comes as the gift of heaven, is the channel by which we receive the greatest blessings... the men of old who gave things their names saw no disgrace or reproach in madness; otherwise they would not have connected it with the name of the noblest of arts, the art of discerning the future, and called it the manic art... So, according to the evidence provided by our ancestors, madness is a nobler thing than sober sense... madness comes from God, whereas sober sense is merely human.

The biggest secret of self-esteem is this: Begin to appreciate other people more; show respect for any human being merely because he is a child of God and therefore a thing of value.

Truly there is nothing in the world so blessed or so sweet as the heritage of children.

Human life, the person is no longer perceived as a primary value to be respected and protected, especially if poor or disabled, if not yet useful - such as the unborn child - or no longer needed - such as the elderly.

I have no personal stake in these people, Jean-Claude, but they are people. Good, bad, or indifferent, they are alive, and no one has the right to just arbitrarily snuff them out.” "So it is the sanctity of life you cling to?" I nodded. “That and the fact that every human being is special. Every death is a loss of something precious and irreplaceable.

Christians have an important role to play in contending that no human life is "devoid of value." We can do so through courageous protest, as happened in Germany, as well, as in compassionate care for the most vulnerable members of society, as Mother Teresa did. In both approaches theology - what one believes about God and human life - matters. The world desperately needs that good news.

Children represent God's most generous gift to us.

Be human in this most inhuman of ages; guard the image of man for it is the image of God.

Every breath we draw is a gift of God's love; every moment of existence is a grace.

All men bear the image of God. They have value not because they are redeemed, but because they are God's creation in God's image.

We are the people of life, because God, in His unconditional love, has given us the Gospel of Life, and we are called to act accordingly.