Pope Francis in his own words: 12 key quotes that defined his 12-year pontificate

Tue, 22 Apr 2025 13:00:00 +0000
Religion

Pope Francis is seen at his general audience at the Vatican, Wednesday, April 16, 2014. / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Vatican City, Apr 22, 2025 / 09:00 am (CNA).

Throughout his 12-year papacy, Pope Francis gave many addresses, talks, and statements, and he penned numerous encyclicals and apostolic exhortations emphasizing themes of hope, mercy, compassion, and joy.

His words often focused on the dignity of the poor, migrants, refugees, and the elderly as well as the importance of marriage, family life, and care for the environment. Advocating for “synodality,” Francis also called for a Church that listens and walks together.

Below is a collection of quotes that reflect Pope Francis’ vision for a more compassionate and Christ-centered world.

*Hope*

In his first encyclical letter Lumen Fidei, Pope Francis said faith in Jesus Christ helps one to joyfully live life “on wings of hope.”

Constantly encouraging people to turn to God, the Holy Father opened the 2025 Jubilee Year of Hope writing in Spes Non Confundit: “Christian hope does not deceive or disappoint because it is grounded in the certainty that nothing and no one may ever separate us from God’s love … The death and resurrection of Jesus is the heart of our faith and the basis of our hope.”

*Mercy*

Pope Francis often said that God’s style is one of “closeness, mercy, and tenderness.”

Exactly two years before closing the Jubilee Year of Mercy, the Holy Father penned his first papal apostolic exhortation Evangelii Gaudium on the 2013 solemnity of Christ the King, writing: “Let me say this once more: God never tires of forgiving us; we are the ones who tire of seeking his mercy … Time and time again he bears us on his shoulders. No one can strip us of the dignity bestowed upon us by this boundless and unfailing love.”

*Joy*

As the first pontiff in history to criticize “sourpusses” in a papal document, Pope Francis reiterated the evangelical importance of joy, a fruit of the Holy Spirit, in Evangelii Gaudium.

In a message to participants of the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints’ 2022 “Holiness Today” symposium, he said: “Without this joy, faith shrinks into an oppressive and dreary thing; the saints are not ‘sourpusses’ but men and women with joyful hearts, open to hope … Blessed Carlo Acutis is likewise a model of Christian joy for teenagers and young people. And the evangelical, and paradoxical, ‘perfect joy’ of St. Francis of Assisi continues to impress us.”

*Love for the poor *

Choosing the name “Francis” in honor of St. Francis of Assisi was a powerful signal to the world that the pope wanted a “Church which is poor and for the poor!”

With his burning desire for the love of Jesus Christ to reach the world’s peripheries, the Argentinian pope insisted that the poor are true evangelizers who must not be ignored.

In his 2015 apostolic journey to the Philippines for the country’s Year of the Poor, the Holy Father asked young people: “You who live by always giving, and think that you need nothing, do you realize that you are poor yourself? Do you realize that you are very poor and that you need what they can give you? Do you let yourself be evangelized by the poor, by the sick, by those you assist?”

*Migrants and refugees*

Migrants, displaced people, refugees, and victims of human trafficking always held a special place in the Jesuit pontiff’s heart.

In 2016, Francis instituted the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and called on Catholics worldwide in 2020, through Fratelli Tutti, to open their arms to those affected by war, persecution, poverty, and natural disasters.

In his 2018 World Day of Migrants and Refugees message, he said: “The Lord entrusts to the Church’s motherly love every person forced to leave their homeland in search of a better future … In this regard, I wish to reaffirm that ‘our shared response may be articulated by four verbs: to welcome, to protect, to promote, and to integrate.’”

*Environment and climate change*

Pope Francis spoke in Catholic and secular venues about the detrimental impacts of a “throwaway culture” perpetuated by unscrupulous profiteering and rampant consumerism.

Having written two key documents — including Laudate Deum — dedicated to the care for God’s creation, he wrote in Laudato Si’ in 2015: “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.”

*Pets vs. people*

The pope was a strong believer that pets should never replace children.

During his 2023 address at the General State of the Birth Rate conference held in Italy, the Holy Father recalled one brief encounter: “I greeted the woman, and she opened a bag and said: ‘Will you bless him, my baby?’ A dog!”

“I did not have any patience there… ‘Madam, many children are hungry, and you are here with a dog!’ Brothers and sisters, these are scenes from the present, but if things continue like this, it will be the custom of the future: beware.”

*Marriage and family life*

Among several practical pearls of wisdom for families — including advice to mothers to “stop ironing the shirts” of their sons so that they marry soon — Pope Francis told newlyweds in 2016 that the words: “May I?”, “Thank you,” and “I’m sorry” are key to maintaining peace in the home.

“There are always problems and arguments in married life,” the pope said. “It is normal for husband and wife to argue and to raise their voices; they squabble, and even plates go flying! So do not be afraid of this when it happens. May I give you a piece of advice: Never end the day without making peace.”

*Youth and the elderly*

Known as the “grandfather of the children” at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, Pope Francis traditionally used his weekly general audiences to convey his spiritual closeness with both the youth and the elderly.

When the pope instituted the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, he said: “The future of the world depends on this covenant between young and old. Who, if not the young, can take the dreams of the elderly and make them come true? Yet for this to happen, it is necessary that we continue to dream.”

“Our dreams of justice, of peace, of solidarity can make it possible for our young people to have new visions; in this way, together, we can build the future,” the pope said.

*Synodality*

The Argentinian pope often said he preferred a Church that goes out into the world even if “bruised, hurting, and dirty because it has been out on the streets.”

The Holy Father insisted priests be shepherds “with the smell of sheep,” urged consecrated brothers and sisters to bring God’s “light to the women and men of our time,” and called on laypeople to “bring the novelty and joy of the Gospel wherever you are.”

Urging all Catholic faithful to learn how to listen and walk together as one missionary Church, the Holy Father said at the close of the Vatican’s 2024 Synod on Synodality meeting: “Everyone, everyone, everyone! Nobody left outside: everyone … It is up to us to amplify the sound of this whispering, never getting in its way; to open the doors, never building walls.”

“How much damage the women and men of the Church do when they build walls, how much damage! Everyone is welcome, everyone, everyone!” he said.

*Popular piety: Our Lady, St. Joseph, and the Heart of Jesus*

Pope Francis was known to love the simple faith and devotion of the people. His own childlike affection for Mary, the Mother of God, and St. Joseph was evident to millions.

However, the pontiff’s belief in the power of popular piety reached its climax in his last and lengthy encyclical letter, Dilexit Nos, in which he wrote: “The flames of love of the Sacred Heart of Jesus also expand through the Church’s missionary outreach, which proclaims the message of God’s love revealed in Christ … As we contemplate the Sacred Heart, mission becomes a matter of love.”

*Food*

The Church’s first Latin American pope understood the importance of physical and spiritual nourishment.

Besides sharing lessons learnt from his favorite movie, “Babette’s Feast,” the pope would always tell those who prayed the Sunday Angelus with him to “have a good lunch!”

In Dilexit Nos, the Holy Father stressed just how important culinary traditions are for family life when he wrote: “In this age of artificial intelligence, we cannot forget that poetry and love are necessary to save our humanity.”

“No algorithm,” he said, “will ever be able to capture, for example, the nostalgia that all of us feel, whatever our age, and wherever we live, when we recall how we first used a fork to seal the edges of the pies that we helped our mothers or grandmothers to make at home.”