The Jewish religion is not extrinsic to us but in a certain way intrinsic to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship which we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and, in a certain way, it can be said that you are our elder brothers. Visiting a Jewish synagogue in Rome. (1986)

Modern Society will find no solution to the ecological problem unless it takes a serious look at its lifestyles.

The worst prison would be a closed heart. This statement is also attributed to others.

Darkness can only be scattered by light, hatred can only be conquered by love.

Science develops best when its concepts and conclusions are integrated into the broader human culture and its concerns for ultimate meaning and value. Scientists cannot, therefore, hold themselves entirely aloof from the sorts of issues dealt with by philosophers and theologians. By devoting to these issues something of the energy and care they give to their research in science, they can help others realize more fully the human potentialities of their discoveries. They can also come to appreciate for themselves that these discoveries cannot be a genuine substitute for knowledge of the truly ultimate. Science can purify religion from error and superstition; religion can purify science from idolatry and false absolutes. Each can draw the other into a wider world, a world in which both can flourish. Letter to the Reverend George V. Coyne, S.J., Director of the Vatican Observatory (1988-06-01).

War is a defeat for humanity.

As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live.

Pervading nationalism imposes its dominion on man today in many different forms and with an aggressiveness that spares no one. The challenge that is already with us is the temptation to accept as true freedom what in reality is only a new form of slavery.

When you wonder about the mystery of yourself, look to Christ, who gives you the meaning of life. When you wonder what it means to be a mature person, look to Christ, who is the fulfillness of humanity. And when you wonder about your role in the future of the world look to Christ.

Stupidity is also a gift of God, but one mustn't misuse it.

God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your name to the nations: We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and, asking your forgiveness, we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the covenant. Written prayer, placed by John Paul II into the "Wailing Wall" while visiting Jerusalem. (2000)

Faced with today's problems and disappointments, many people will try to escape from their responsibility. Escape in selfishness, escape in sexual pleasure, escape in drugs, escape in violence, escape in indifference and cynical attitudes. I propose to you the option of love, which is the opposite of escape. Said during his first visit to the US in 1979.

Hands are the heart's landscape.

War should belong to the tragic past, to history: it should find no place on humanity's agenda for the future.

Social justice cannot be attained by violence. Violence kills what it intends to create.

Humanity should question itself, once more, about the absurd and always unfair phenomenon of war, on whose stage of death and pain only remain standing the negotiating table that could and should have prevented it.

The great danger for family life, in the midst of any society whose idols are pleasure, comfort and independence, lies in the fact that people close their hearts and become selfish.

The fear of making permanent commitments can change the mutual love of husband and wife into two loves of self - two loves existing side by side, until they end in separation.

The historical experience of socialist countries has sadly demonstrated that collectivism does not do away with alienation but rather increases it, adding to it a lack of basic necessities and economic inefficiency.

Radical changes in world politics leave America with a heightened responsibility to be, for the world, an example of a genuinely free, democratic, just and humane society.

Man always travels along precipices. His truest obligation is to keep his balance.

The future starts today, not tomorrow.

Amen. This word is the final word before his death, Vatican City (2005-04-02)

We Christians joyfully recognize the religious values we have in common with Islam. Today I would like to repeat what I said to young Muslims some years ago in Casablanca: 'We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection.' 1999-05-05

This people draws its origin from Abraham, our father in faith The very people that received from God the commandment Thou shalt not kill itself experienced in a special measure what is meant by killing. It is not permissible for anyone to pass by this inscription with indifference. Before the Hebrew inscription commemorating the Jews killed at the Auschwitz concentration camp. (1979)