Amoris Laetitia “This is a document that demands a careful reading and reflection from Catholics everywhere, and it is sure to bear great fruit ... Rather than try to draw immediate conclusions from the text, we are urged to reflect upon it and to ponder, patiently and carefully, what the teachings will mean for the Church and for her ministry to families.” – Press statement, 2016 Women priests “If I were founding a church, I’d love to have women priests. But Christ founded it, and what he has given us is something different.” – Interview with 60 Minutes, 2014 Same-sex marriage “As a citizen of the United States and a Catholic bishop, I am saddened by the Supreme Court decision on same-sex marriage.” – Press statement, 2015 Pope Francis and gay Catholics “The Holy Father is talking about reaching out to the periphery and very often this is a group that is on the periphery. It is not necessarily that the Church is going to change doctrine, but as somebody said, the Holy Father hasn’t changed the lyrics, but he’s changed the melody.” – National Catholic Reporter, 2014 Pro-life activism “The pro-life movement needs to be the merciful face of God to women facing a difficult pregnancy. Being judgmental or condemnatory is not part of the Gospel of Life.” – Homily at the Vigil for Life, 2014 Pope Francis’s approach to abortion “If we are going to get a hearing in today’s world, it will be because people recognise that authenticity of our lives and our dedication to building a civilisation of love.” – Address to Knights of Columbus, 2013 Immigration “By and large, our immigrants were very poor people and even the words of the Statute of Liberty remember that there was a preferential option for the poor and the unwanted from the beginning of our country.” – Interview with Crux, 2018 On Donald Trump “I worry about his rhetoric. It’s very easy to stir up resentment and to blame groups of people.” – Interview with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, 2016 Gun violence “It is more than tragic that our country is repeatedly experiencing these attacks and that the number of innocent victims, of which one would be too many, continues to climb ... there can be no rational justification for allowing private citizens to have personal arsenals of assault weapons.” – Cardinal Seán’s blog, 2018 On the restoration of the Old Mass “It’s not a question of anyone being obliged to celebrate the ‘old’ Mass. As far as the language is concerned, the ‘new’ Mass can be celebrated in Latin without permission. As a matter of fact, when I was first ordained, if we celebrated Mass alone, we were supposed to celebrate it in Latin. I still follow that custom. The idea being that the vernacular was allowed for pastoral reasons for the people.” – Cardinal Seán’s blog, 2006 Studying in Germany as a seminarian “I have many fond memories of those days. I will share with you, believe it or not, that I and everyone else were wearing lederhosen in those days. But do not try to find those pictures because I assure you that the negatives have been destroyed. LOL!” – Cardinal Seán’s blog, 2006 Conclaves “I assure you no cardinal goes into the conclave with the ambition of being chosen for this responsibility” – Homily reported by wbur.org, 2013