26 March 2011: On the day of my election, I presented myself with conviction as “a humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard”, and today, together with you, I want to remember all workers and entrust them to the protection of St Joseph the worker.

19 March 2011: St. Joseph, my personal patron and the patron of the Holy Church is a humble saint, a humble worker, who was made worthy to be the guardian of the Redeemer. St. Matthew characterizes St. Joseph with one word: "He was a just man," … and in the Old Testament, as we find it for example in Psalm 1, "just" is the man who is immersed in the Word of God, who lives in the Word of God, who lives the Law … as a "joy", who lives - we could say - the Law as "Gospel." St. Joseph was just, he was immersed in the Word of God, written, transmitted in the wisdom of his people, and precisely in this way was prepared and called to know the Incarnate Word - the Word who came among us as a man - and predestined to care for, to protect this Incarnate Word; this remains his mission forever: to care for the Holy Church and Our Lord. We entrust ourselves in this moment to his care, we pray that he help us in our humble service. We go forward in courage under this protection.

19 December 2010: St. Joseph is presented as a “just man” (Matthew 1:19), faithful to God’s law, ready to do His will. On account of this he enters into the mystery of the Incarnation after an angel of the Lord appears to him in a dream and tells him: "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife with you. In fact the child that has been conceived in her comes from the Holy Spirit; she will give birth to a son and you will call him Jesus: he in fact will save his people from their sins" (Matthew 1:20-21). Forgetting the thought of repudiating Mary in secret, he takes her in because his eyes now see the work of God in her.

5 July 2010: The espousals between Joseph and Mary are an episode of great importance. Joseph was of the royal line of David and, in virtue of his marriage to Mary, would confer on the Son of the Virgin - on God's Son - the legal tile of "Son of David," thus fulfilling the prophecies. The espousals of Joseph and Mary are, because of this, a human event, but determinant in the history of humanity's salvation, in the realization of the promises of God; because of this, it also has a supernatural connotation, which the two protagonists accept with humility and trust.

5 July 2010: The Gospel, as we know, has not kept any word from Joseph, who carries out his activity in silence. It is the style that characterizes his whole existence, both before finding himself before the mystery of God's action in his spouse, as well as when - conscious of this mystery - he is with Mary in the Nativity. On that holy night, in Bethlehem, with Mary and the Child, is Joseph, to whom the Heavenly Father entrusted the daily care of his Son on earth, a care carried out with humility and in silence.

19 March 2009: Each and every one of us has a role to play in the plan of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If discouragement overwhelms you, think of the faith of Joseph; if anxiety has its grip on you, think of the hope of Joseph, that descendant of Abraham who hoped against hope; if exasperation or hatred seizes you, think of the love of Joseph, who was the first man to set eyes on the human face of God in the person of the Infant conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Let us praise and thank Christ for having drawn so close to us, and for giving us Joseph as an example and model of love for Him.

18 March 2009: Joseph teaches us that it is possible to love without possessing. In contemplating Joseph, all men and women can, by God’s grace, come to experience healing from their emotional wounds, if only they embrace the plan that God has begun to bring about in those close to him, just as Joseph entered into the work of redemption through Mary and as a result of what God had already done in her.

18 March 2009: There is but one fatherhood, that of God the Father, the one Creator of the world, “of all that is seen and unseen”. Yet man, created in the image of God, has been granted a share in this one paternity of God (cf. Eph 3:15). Saint Joseph is a striking case of this, since he is a father, without fatherhood according to the flesh. He is not the biological father of Jesus, whose Father is God alone, and yet he lives his fatherhood fully and completely. To be a father means above all to be at the service of life and growth. Saint Joseph, in this sense, gave proof of great devotion. For the sake of Christ he experienced persecution, exile and the poverty which this entails. He had to settle far from his native town. His only reward was to be with Christ. His readiness to do all these things illustrates the words of Saint Paul: “It is Christ the Lord whom you serve” (Col 3:24).

19 March 2006: The Gospel of Matthew highlights in a special way the messianic prophecies which found their fulfillment through St. Joseph’s role: the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem (2:13-15); the byname "Nazarene" (2:22-23). In all this he showed himself, as his spouse Mary, authentic heir of Abraham’s faith: faith in God who guides the events of history according to His mysterious salvific plan. Joseph’s greatness, like Mary’s, stands out even more because his mission was developed in humility and in the hiddenness of the house of Nazareth. Moreover, God himself, in the person of His incarnate Son, chose this way and style of life in His earthly existence. From the example of St. Joseph we all receive a strong invitation to develop with fidelity, simplicity and modesty, the task that providence has assigned to us. I am thinking above all of fathers and mothers of families, and I pray that they will always be able to appreciate the beauty of a simple and industrious life, cultivating the conjugal relationship with care and fulfilling with enthusiasm the great and not easy educational mission.

18 December 2005: I would like to turn my gaze to the figure of St. Joseph. In today's Gospel St. Luke presents the Virgin Mary as "a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David" (Lk 1: 27). The Evangelist Matthew, however, places a greater emphasis on the putative father of Jesus, stressing that through him the Child belonged legally to the lineage of David and thus fulfilled the Scriptural prophecy that the Messiah would be a "Son of David". But Joseph's role cannot be reduced to this legal aspect. He was the model of a "just" man (Mt 1: 19) who, in perfect harmony with his wife, welcomed the Son of God made man and watched over his human growth. It is therefore particularly appropriate to establish a sort of spiritual conversation with St. Joseph, so that he may help us live to the full this great mystery of faith.

To priests, who exercise a paternal role over Ecclesial Communities, may St. Joseph help them love the Church with affection and complete dedication, and may he support consecrated persons in their joyous and faithful observance of the evangelical counsels of poverty, chastity and obedience.

I entrust to the heavenly intercession of great St. Joseph my upcoming Pilgrimage and the populations of the whole of Africa, together with the challenges that mark them and the hopes that enliven them. I am thinking in particular of the victims of hunger, disease, injustice, fratricidal conflicts and of every form of violence which unfortunately continues to afflict adults and children, without sparing missionaries, priests, men and women religious and voluntary workers.

Saint Joseph is not only an intercessor for bodily health, but also an intercessor for the health of the soul, a teacher of prayer. Dear friends who are sick … I want to express my wish that none of you should ever feel alone. In fact it is the task of every human person, created in the image of Christ, to be a good neighbor to those around him. I entrust all of you to the intercession of the Virgin Mary, our Mother, and to the intercession of Saint Joseph. May God grant that we become bearers for one another of the mercy, tenderness and love of our God, and may he bless you!

To St. Joseph’s intercession I entrust the hopes of the Church and of the world. May he, together with the Virgin Mary, his spouse, always guide my way and yours, so that we are able to be joyful instruments of peace and of salvation.  

19 December 2010

Dear friends, I would like to entrust all Pastors to St Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, while I urge them to offer Christ’s humble words and actions each day to the faithful and to the whole world.

St. Joseph was just, he was immersed in the Word of God, written, transmitted in the wisdom of his people, and precisely in this way was prepared and called to know the Incarnate Word - the Word who came among us as a man - and predestined to care for, to protect this Incarnate Word; this remains his mission forever: to care for the Holy Church and Our Lord. We entrust ourselves in this moment to St. Joseph’s care, we pray that he help us in our humble service. We go forward in courage under this protection.

On the day of my election, I presented myself with conviction as “a humble worker in the Lord’s vineyard”, and today, together with you, I want to remember all workers and entrust them to the protection of St Joseph the worker.