The ethos of redemption is realied in self-mastery, by means of temperance, that is, continence of desires.
— Blessed Are the Pure of Heart: Catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount and Writings of St. Paul
Pope John Paul II, born Karol Józef Wojtyła, was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of Vatican City from 16 October 1978 until his death in 2005. He was the first non-Italian pope since Adrian VI in the 16th century and the third longest-serving pope in history. He was also an important philosopher and theologian of the 20th century.
In his youth he worked at times as a stage actor, and he graduated from high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938. During World War II he worked in a quarry to avoid being sent to a German forced labour camp. Encouraged by Adam Stefan Sapieha, he studied theology and became a priest, and he later rose to Archbishop of Kraków. Love and Responsibility and Crossing the Threshold of Hope are among his most quoted works in our library.
In his youth he worked at times as a stage actor, and he graduated from high school in Wadowice, Poland, in 1938. During World War II he worked in a quarry to avoid being sent to a German forced labour camp. Encouraged by Adam Stefan Sapieha, he studied theology and became a priest, and he later rose to Archbishop of Kraków. Love and Responsibility and Crossing the Threshold of Hope are among his most quoted works in our library.
Most quoted works
- Love and Responsibility 12
- Blessed Are the Pure of Heart: Catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount and Writings of St. Paul 3
- Crossing the Threshold of Hope 2
- Fides et Ratio: On the Relationship Between Faith and Reason 2
Love consists of a commitment which limits one's freedom - it is a giving of the self, and to give oneself means just that: to limit one's freedom on behalf of another.
— Love and Responsibility
...if desire is predominant it can deform love between man and woman and rob them both of it.
— Love and Responsibility
A person's rightful due is to be treated as an object of love, not as an object for use.
— Love and Responsibility
Friendship, as has been said, consists in a full commitment of the will to another person with a view to that person's good.
— Love and Responsibility
Love between man and woman cannot be built without sacrifices and self-denial.
— Love and Responsibility
Limitation of one's freedom might seem to be something negative and unpleasant, but love makes it a positive, joyful and creative thing. Freedom exists for the sake of love.
— Love and Responsibility
Take away from love the fullness of self surrender, the completeness of personal commitment, and what remains will be a total denial and negation of it.
— Love and Responsibility
I plead with you--never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.
— Pope John Paul II: In My Own Words
The lust of the flesh directs these desires [of personal union], however, to satisfaction of the body, often at the cost of a real and full communion of persons.
— Blessed Are the Pure of Heart: Catechesis on the Sermon on the Mount and Writings of St. Paul
Prayer finds its source in God's holiness and it is at the same time our response to this holiness.
— Gift and Mystery: On the fifteth anniversary of my priestly ordination