"Today more than ever we are called to serve mankind as such, and not merely Catholics; to defend above all & everywhere the rights of the human person, & not merely those of the Catholic Church. Today's world, the needs made plain in the last fifty years, & a deeper understanding of doctrine, have brought us a new situation.

It is not the Gospel that has changed, it is that we have begun to understand it better. Those who have lived as long as I have, were enabled to compare different cultures & traditions & know that the moment has come to discern the signs of the times, to seize the opportunity & to look far ahead."

May 28, 1963