On his chances of becoming Pope: There is not the slightest chance of that. But if you want reasons, the first one is that I don't speak Italian.
On divorce: Why do people whose marriages have broken down seek remarriage? What they think is that in their second and subsequent relationships they will be able to acquire the social status which stems from the first marriage. The result is the status of all marriages is reduced by turning marriage into a temporary arrangement.
On homosexuality: Yes, there are people unfortunately who suffer from that disorder in their lives but it is no longer presented to the public as a disorder. It is presented as an alternative lifestyle and I don't know how many young people are being injured by that.
On Sunday trading: We are losing things that have been traditionally highly regarded. We are surrendering them without noticing. Nobody passes any comment, and then we will find some day that they are gone and we have a different kind of world.
On contraception: The child that is produced by the decision of the parents begins to look more and more like a technological product. A profound alteration in the relationship between parent and child may result when the child is no longer welcomed as a gift but produced as it were to order. No child can be happy as a product.
On Catholics taking Communion in Protestant churches: A sham. (speaking on The Last Word in 1997).
Now it is all very well to say that everybody whose conscience permits is welcome to come to Communion, but in circumstances when it is known that this is tantamount to an invitation to Catholics to come to Communion, that fails to respect the faith and obligations of our members. (2001)
On abortion: The poorest among us are the unborn, who more and more widely are denied the promise of life.
On women priests: It is assumed that the church could ordain women if she wanted do, and that the only reason she does not do so is that she does not want to. But there is a much more radical question - whether it is possible for the church to ordain women.
On the Celtic Tiger: People don't seem to have time for the things that matter.
On Travellers: The fact remains that once again as we begin a new year, we allow our brothers and sisters to remain on the roadside and in open ditches, cold and wet and hungry because there is no room for them in our hearts or our communities.
On priestly celibacy: The sign of priestly celibacy is a gift from God so precious that the church will not abandon it.
On the existence of the Devil: I haven't got the slightest doubt about that. He is the destroyer of life and quite certainly he is a reality - a person.