The martyrs of the early Church died for their faith in that God who was revealed in Jesus Christ, and for this very reason they also died for freedom of conscience and the freedom to profess one's own faith - a profession that no State can impose but which, instead, can only be claimed with God's grace in freedom of conscience. A missionary Church known for proclaiming her message to all peoples must necessarily work for the freedom of the faith. She desires to transmit the gift of the truth that exists for one and all.

At the same time, she assures peoples and their Governments that she does not wish to destroy their identity and culture by doing so, but to give them, on the contrary, a response which, in their innermost depths, they are waiting for - a response with which the multiplicity of cultures is not lost but instead unity between men and women increases and thus also peace between peoples.
- Pope Benedict XVI, Address to the Roman Curia, December 22, 2005

Prayer Before a Crucifix

Behold, O good and most sweet Jesus, I fall upon my knees before Thee, and with most fervent desire beg and beseech Thee that Thou wouldst impress upon my heart a lively sense of faith, hope and charity, true repentance for my sins, and a firm resolve to make amends. And with deep affection and grief, I reflect upon Thy five wounds, having before my eyes that which Thy prophet David spoke about Thee, O good Jesus: ‘They have pierced my hands and feet, they have counted all my bones.’

A plenary indulgence is granted to the Christian faithful who: in any Friday in the season of Lent piously recite the prayer ‘En ego, o bone et dulcissime Iesu,’ before an image of the Crucified Jesus Christ after communion; (Reference: Enchiridion Indulgentiarum, 4th ed.)

An Engaging Quote....

As a nation we began by declaring that "all men are created equal". We now practically read it "all men are created equal except Negroes".

Soon it will read "all men are created equal except Negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.

When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty; to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure and without the base alloy of hypocrisy.
--- Abraham Lincoln, 1855