Pope Devotes Reflection on St. Joseph to the Dignity of Work and Just Treatment for Workers

In remarks given in his general audience on 12 January 2022, the Holy Father dedicated himself to the discussion of St. Joseph the Worker, drawing conclusions on the dignity of work and just treatment for workers.

Reminding us that people in the synagogue at Nazareth were scandalized that the son of a carpenter presumed to teach with authority (Mt 13), Pope Francis reminds us that the Son of God chose to reveal himself as a modest craftsman and son of a craftsman – a lesson in the dignity of all those who work, whatever their circumstances. He continued…

Let me repeat what I said: the hidden workers, the workers who do hard labour in mines and in certain factories: let’s think of them. Let’s think about them. Let’s think about those who are exploited with undeclared work, who are paid in contraband, on the sly, without a pension, without anything. And if you don’t work, you have no security. Undocumented work. And today there is a lot of undocumented work.

[Let us think] of the victims of work, who suffer from work accidents. Of the children who are forced to work: this is terrible! A child at the age of play, who should be playing, forced to work like an adult! Children forced to work. And of those — poor people! — who rummage in the dumps to look for something useful to trade: they go to the dumps… All these are our brothers and sisters, who earn their living this way: they don’t give them dignity! Let us think about this. And this is happening today, in the world, this is happening today.

But I think too of those who are out of work. How many people go knocking on the doors of factories, of businesses [asking] “Is there anything to do?” — “No, there’s nothing, there’s nothing. [I think] of those who feel their dignity wounded because they cannot find this work. They return home: “And? Have you found something?” — “No, nothing… I went to Caritas and I brought bread. What gives dignity is not bringing bread home. You can get it from Caritas — no, this doesn’t give you dignity. What gives you dignity is earning bread — and if we don’t give our people, our men and women, the ability to earn bread, that is a social injustice in that place, in that nation, in that continent. The leaders must give everyone the possibility of earning bread, because this ability to earn gives them dignity. It is an unction of dignity, work. And this is important.

To read his reflections in their entirety, CLICK HERE.