‘Who am I to judge?’ Pope Francis had an informal, lighthearted speaking style
Apr 21, 2025, 2:06 AM
FILE - Pope Francis speaks during a meeting with the media at the Pope VI hall, at the Vatican, Saturday, March 16, 2013. Speaking of the moment of his election and his conversation with his friend, Cardinal Claudio Hummes, in the Sistine Chapel as the votes were going his way. 鈥淲hen things were looking dangerous, he encouraged me. And when the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: 鈥楧on't forget the poor!鈥� And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. 鈥� How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!鈥� (AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/Michael Sohn, File)
VATICAN CITY (AP) 鈥� Pope Francis, who died on Monday, had an informal, lighthearted speaking style, and sometimes he even created words in a combination of his native Spanish with the Italian that he spoke as pope.
Some of his memorable quotes:
鈥淏rothers and sisters, good evening!鈥� — Francis鈥� first words delivered from the loggia of St. Peter鈥檚 Basilica after his election as pontiff on March 13, 2013.
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鈥淲hen the votes reached two-thirds, there was the usual applause, because the pope had been elected. And he gave me a hug and a kiss and said: 鈥楧on鈥檛 forget the poor!鈥� And those words came to me: the poor, the poor. Then, right away, thinking of the poor, I thought of Francis of Assisi. Then I thought of all the wars, as the votes were still being counted, till the end. Francis is also the man of peace. That is how the name came into my heart: Francis of Assisi. 鈥� How I would like a Church which is poor and for the poor!鈥� 鈥� Francis, speaking to journalists on March 16, 2013, recounting how Cardinal Claudio Hummes gave him the idea of choosing the name Francis.
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鈥淚n these days, I鈥檝e been able to read a book by a cardinal 鈥� Cardinal Kasper, a good theologian 鈥� about mercy. And this book has done me a lot of good, though don鈥檛 think I鈥檓 just doing publicity for my cardinals鈥� books! It鈥檚 not like that. But it鈥檚 done me so much good. Cardinal Kasper said that feeling 鈥榤ercy,鈥� this word changes everything. It鈥檚 the best thing we can feel: It changes the world. A bit of mercy makes the world less cold and more just.鈥� 鈥� Francis’ First Angelus prayer from his studio window, March 17, 2013. ___
鈥淲e are brothers.鈥� 鈥� Francis, upon meeting Emeritus Pope Benedict XVI for the first time after the election, at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, March 23, 2013. ___
鈥淲ho am I to judge?鈥� 鈥� Francis, responding to a question about a purportedly gay priest, in a comment that set the tone for a papacy more welcoming to LGBTQ+ Catholics, July 28, 2013. ___
鈥淲e are brothers.鈥� 鈥� Francis, to Patriarch Kirill during the first-ever papal meeting with the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church, in the Havana airport, Feb. 13, 2016. ___
鈥淚n certain cases, this can include the help of the sacraments. Hence, 鈥業 want to remind priests that the confessional must not be a torture chamber, but rather an encounter with the Lord鈥檚 mercy.鈥� I would also point out that the Eucharist 鈥榠s not a prize for the perfect, but a powerful medicine and nourishment for the weak.’鈥� 鈥� Footnote 351 in encyclical 鈥淎moris Laetitia鈥� (鈥淭he Joy of Love鈥�), referencing Francis鈥� writings about access to the Eucharist, April 8, 2016. ___
“The meeting is the message.鈥� 鈥� Francis, upon meeting Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the prestigious Sunni Muslim center of learning, after a long freeze in relations, May 23, 2016.
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鈥淚t鈥檚 an honor if the Americans attack me.鈥� 鈥� Francis鈥� quip to French journalist-author Nicholas Seneze, referring to U.S. conservative criticism, aboard the papal plane about Seneze鈥檚 book 鈥淗ow America Wants to Change the Pope,鈥� Sept. 4, 2019.
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鈥淲e have realized that we are on the same boat, all of us fragile and disoriented, but at the same time, important and needed, all of us called to row together, each of us in need of comforting the other.鈥� 鈥� Francis, praying for an end to the coronavirus pandemic in St. Peter鈥檚 Square, March 27, 2020.
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鈥淚 am sorry. I ask forgiveness, in particular, for the ways in which many members of the church and of religious communities cooperated, not least through their indifference, in projects of cultural destruction and forced assimilation promoted by the governments of that time, which culminated in the system of residential schools.鈥� 鈥� Francis, apologizing for abuses of Indigenous peoples in Canada鈥檚 residential schools, at the site of a former school in Maskwacis, Alberta, July 25, 2022.
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鈥淚 don鈥檛 know if you鈥檙e familiar with this theological-cultural history, that the guardian angels of some countries got mad with God and told him: 鈥楩ather, you were unfair to us 鈥� you gave each of our countries a wealth: cattle, agriculture, mining. And to the Argentines you gave them everything. Everything! They have all the wealth.鈥� And it is said that God thought a little. 鈥楤ut to balance it out, I gave Argentina Argentines.鈥�” 鈥� Francis, in an interview with The Associated Press, Jan. 24, 2023.
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鈥淏eing homosexual is not a crime.鈥濃�� Francis, in an interview with The Associated Press, referring to countries that criminalize homosexuality, Jan. 24, 2023.
