Hope perseveres in the face of hardship, recognizes that God in his grace wants to preserve this world and protect it from its self-destructive powers.

Reconciliation requires sacrifice; it is costly and is humbling. But it is the only way to construct the identity of a nation that fosters peace, generosity and prosperity.

I will never be more influential than when I succeed in helping people be reconciled with each other, with their situation, and ultimately with God.

Should the protest of Reformed Christians against laws allowing shopping on Sunday be heeded? Do transgendered people have a right to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with?

I find it amazing that God would “overcome” the world in the worst thinkable way, by letting his son be condemned to death. He allowed the darkest force to be used against him. 

In the Christian tradition we believe that Christ taught us to break out of the matrix, out of the grip of grey despair and to be moved by beauty and light which restores our hope. 

So all leaders listen, but what they listen to makes a dramatic difference.

While we knew that Muslim Extremism was a relevant topic for our bi-annual breakfast seminar, never did we expect this seminar to be so timely, as the Parisian attacks happened on the eve of this seminar.

In light of the stigmatisation of large groups of newcomers in our societies, it is important to stress the common humanity of all human beings, and of the equal dignity we all posses in the eyes of God.

Hope is not simply a virtue or bonus of life, but it is an essential anthropological given – a primary human emotion that is often overlooked in research.

The encyclical strongly relates these ecological problems to social issues such as injustice and income inequality: it asserts that where the fabric of society breaks down, the environment suffers as well. 

Economics should take into account the relational aspect of men as it structures society for human flourishing.