"The first persecution of the Church took place in the year 67, under Nero, the sixth emperor of Rome"

"All things atrocious and shameless flock from all parts to Rome"

"The Church knew what the psalmist knew: Music praises God. Music is well or better able to praise him than the building of the church and all its decoration; it is the Church's greatest ornament"

"Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to a garage makes you an automobile"

"Every one soon or late comes round by Rome"

"I have a friend who lives in the South Side of Chicago. I helped out at a church charity there where they try to give a bit of cohesion to a desperate area. Everyone was very welcoming"

"The history of the Church of Rome is a constant leakage of members into such breakaway cults, which go on splitting"

"German is more familiar now since I live part of the year in Rome and part in the German part of Switzerland. But it's not difficult to sing in German; it's difficult to feel in German. This takes time. It's a culture"

"A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man, is the type of some great idea. Rome represents conquest; Faith hovers over the towers of Jerusalem; and Athens embodies the pre-eminent quality of the antique world, Art"

"Rome is the city of echoes, the city of illusions, and the city of yearning"

"It would be far better to be of no church than to be bitter of any"