Vatican finances “Blessed Father, my transfer in this moment would provoke confusion and discouragement for those who thought it was possible to clean up so many situations of corruption and abuse of office.” – Letter to Benedict XVI asking not to be transferred from Rome, 2011
American Catholicism “I felt the strength of this Church since the first moment I arrived.” – Salt and Light television interview, 2013
The priesthood “We must choose for our seminaries the finest priests possible, not necessarily the most renowned, or most highly recognised, or even the most intelligent, as true teachers, models and examples for our seminarians. We need priests first and foremost who draw others to the message of Christ crucified through holiness of life, who have patterned their own lives on those saintly men and women who have gone before them. Hopefully our seminarians today will find their inspiration through us as well.” – Address to the US bishops, 2012
The resignation of Benedict XVI “It was an enormous shock for me because I’d been sent by him to the United States.” – Salt and Light television interview, 2013
Pro-life activism “One of the themes of the constitution is freedom of speech. Is it possible that the only one who does not have freedom of speech is the unborn? This is a great question that every free woman and man has to ask themselves: why is there no such right for the unborn? They have no right to see the light. They have no right to speak.” – Walk for Life, San Francisco, 2015
Why he spoke out “I had always believed and hoped that the hierarchy of the Church could find within itself the spiritual resources and strength to tell the whole truth, to amend and to renew itself. That is why, even though I had repeatedly been asked to do so, I always avoided making statements to the media, even when it would have been my right to do so, in order to defend myself against the calumnies published about me, even by high-ranking prelates of the Roman Curia. But now that the corruption has reached the very top of the Church’s hierarchy, my conscience dictates that I reveal those truths regarding the heartbreaking case of the Archbishop Emeritus of Washington DC, Theodore McCarrick.” – Testimony, 2018
Appeal to Pope Francis “In this extremely dramatic moment for the Universal Church, he must acknowledge his mistakes and, in keeping with the proclaimed principle of zero tolerance, Pope Francis must be the first to set a good example for cardinals and bishops who covered up McCarrick’s abuses and resign along with all of them.” – Testimony, 2018
Reactions to his letter “There are those who cannot stop looking for places to draw poison with which to destroy my credibility. Someone even wrote that I was hospitalised twice with compulsory treatment (TSO) for drug use. There are those who imagine conspiracies, political plots, plots of every sort, etc, but there are also many articles of appreciation, and I had the chance to see messages from priests and faithful people who are thanking me, because my testimony has been for them a glimmer of new hope for the Church.” – Interview with Aldo Maria Valli, 2018
Christian witness “Each one of us has a responsibility before God to bring a message of truth into this world, even if it means spending our lives for that very purpose – sometimes silently, but very often today publicly.” – Address at the North American College, Rome, 2016
