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The priest is the personification of falsehood.

I don't think you can be a Catholic without an accompanying measure of guilt.

There is a kind of thinking in the Church that wants to reduce the priest to a mere functionary, a managing director, where administration rather than doctrine and worship are to determine the form of the Church.

You know how the church has been hit so hard by the sexual misconduct by clergy, and what's that's done to Catholics, especially here in Boston but elsewhere as well.

The church may hold whatever it holds with regard to clerical celibacy.

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.

Priesthood is forever and does not cease when a priest cannot carry out that priestly ministry.

Being raised Catholic myself, I think people who are Catholic tend to carry a lot of guilt. It's almost a joke.

I personally believe, as church law sets out, that sanctions are an absolute last resort, particularly penal sanctions of depriving people of the sacraments.

If a Pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically, and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right and, under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign.