Ten inspirational, motivating, and challenging quotes from Pope Francis on the subjects of leadership, politics and power, and religion. Read what the leader of the largest religious organization in the world, the most talked about person on the Internet and TIME magazine's person of the year has to say in his own words.

1. 10 Quotes from
Pope Francis
on Leadership,
Politics, and
Religion

2. God calls, and that’s what we see in the vocation
of the great leaders. In our tradition, a mission
always starts with a calling.
[…]
During the formation process, one must purify
the right intention, because nobody, not even
those who discover themselves called, responds
with complete integrity; the response is a
mixture because we are all sinners.
Pope Francis in On Heaven and Earth, p. 28

3. …he that wants to be a leader of the people of God
has to give God His space; therefore to shrink, to
recede into oneself with doubt, with the interior
experiences of darkness, of not knowing what to
do, all of that ultimately is very purifying.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 32

4. We are all Political animals, with a
capital P. We are all called to
constructive political activity among
our people. The preaching of human
and religious values has a political
consequence. Whether we like it or
not, it is there.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 136
Semila Luz

5. The problem of the press, truthfully, is that
sometimes they reduce what one says to whatever is
opportune. Today, from two or three facts, the media
spins something different: they misinform. What is
said from the pulpit refers to Politics with a capital P,
to the Politics of values; but the press frequently takes
it out of context and takes advantage of it for the
benefit of lowercase politics.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 137
Luca Zennaro / AP

6. The religious minister has the obligation to
defend values; what happens is that the
political world can become overly scrupulous:
it listens to a pastor and they say that he is
preaching against so and so. We do not preach
against anyone; we refer to the value that is in
danger and that must be safeguarded.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 143

7. Power is something that God gave to
humanity… I would question
“power,” which at times is used to
define religion. If one thinks that
power is to impose my way, to push
everyone in my line and to make
them go on that path, I believe that it
is wrong. Religion must not be like
that.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 147

8. Religion has to have a healthy power, insofar as it
serves the human dimensions for the encounter
with God and the fulfillment of the person.
There has to be a power that proposes: I help.
— On Heaven and Earth, p. 147

9. The Christian concept of “human being” has little to do with the entrenched
postmodern view of the individual as a uniquely social agent. Freedom is not
an end in itself, a black hole unconstrained by external forces, but it is
rather that from which arises a most robust way of life of the individual
and the entirety of mankind. —Pray for Me, p. 197

10. We cannot announce anything other than life, and
from the beginning to the end. We must all care
for life, cherish life, tenderness, warmth. That
is what we are called to today, and that’s beautiful.
—Pray for Me, p. 200

11. Every economic, political, social, or religious
project involves the inclusion or exclusion of the
wounded lying on the side of the road. Each day,
each of us faces the choice of being a good
Samaritan or an indifferent bystander.
—Homily on the Good Samaritan, May 2003

12. Read more from Pope Francis:
From the man who became
Pope Francis, Jorge Mario
Bergoglio shares his thoughts
on religion, reason, and the
challenges the world faces in
the 21st century with Abraham
Skorka, a rabbi and
biophysicist.
Read a Sample Chapter here.
From the founder and editor of
Inside the Vatican magazine comes
this enlightening introduction to
the life and spiritual teachings of
Jorge Mario Bergoglio, now Pope
Francis, the first Pope of the
Americas.
Read a Sample Chapter here.
The encyclical letter Lumen Fidei is the great
monument of the Year of Faith declared by Pope
Benedict XVI and brought to completion by Pope
Francis. It is a capstone of the year, but at the same
time a milestone of a long road, a road we have only
begun to travel: the road of the New Evangelization.”
–from the Foreword by Scott Hahn
Read a Sample Chapter here.
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