Philosophies of Cardinal Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI

On John Paul II

"We can be sure our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father's house, that he sees us and blesses us ... Today we bury his remains in the earth as a seed of immortality. Our hearts are full of sadness, yet at the same time of joyful hope and profound gratitude."

On Islam

"It is true that the Muslim world is not totally mistaken when it reproaches the Western Christian tradition for moral decadence and the manipulation of human life ... Islam has also had moments of great splendour and decadence in the course of its history."

On Judaism

"That the Jews are connected with God in a special way and that God does not allow that bond to fail is entirely obvious. We wait for the instant in which Israel will say yes to Christ, but we know that it has a special mission in history now ... which is significant for the world."

On faith

"Having a clear faith, based on the creed of the church, is often labelled today as a fundamentalism ... Whereas relativism, which is letting oneself be tossed and 'swept along by every wind of teaching', looks like the only attitude acceptable to today's standards. We are moving toward a dictatorship of relativism which does not recognise anything as for certain and which has as its highest goal one's own ego and one's own desires."

On women's ordination

"The fact that the church is convinced of not having the right to confer priestly ordination on women is now considered by some as irreconcilable with the European Constitution."

On sex abuse scandals

"In the church, priests also are sinners. But I am personally convinced that the constant presence in the press of the sins of Catholic priests, especially in the United States, is a planned campaign, as the percentage of these offences among priests is not higher than in other categories, perhaps it is even lower. In the US, there is constant news on this topic, but less than 1 per cent of priests are guilty of acts of this type. The constant presence of these news items does not correspond to the objectivity of the information nor to the statistical objectivity of the facts."

On homosexuality

"Although the particular inclination of the homosexual person is not a sin, it is a more or less strong tendency ordered to an intrinsic moral evil, and thus the inclination itself must be seen as an objective disorder.

"It is deplorable that homosexual persons have been and are the object of violent malice in speech or in action. Such treatment deserves condemnation from the church's pastors wherever it occurs. The intrinsic dignity of each person must always be respected in work, in action and in law.

"Above all, we must have great respect for these people who also suffer and who want to find their own way of correct living. On the other hand, to create a legal form of a kind of homosexual marriage, in reality, does not help these people."

On celibacy

"We have such difficulty understanding this renunciation today because the relationship to marriage and children has clearly shifted. To have to die without children was once synonymous with a useless life: the echoes of my own life die away, and I am completely dead."

- INDEPENDENT