The Pope Video: For working conditions

In the Pope Video for May 2025, distributed by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, Pope Francis had asked that we “Pray that through work, each person might find fulfilment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized”. This months video features the words of the last three Popes: Francis, Benedict XVI, and Saint John Paul II on the theme of work.

During a General Audience in 2022, Pope Francis said: “The evangelists Matthew and Mark refer to Joseph as a carpenter. Jesus practised his father’s trade, which was a pretty hard job. From an economic point of view, it did not ensure great earnings. This biographical fact about Joseph and Jesus made him think of all the workers in the world.

“Work”, Pope Francis added, “anoints our dignity: What gives you dignity is not bringing bread home. What gives you dignity is earning your bread.”

Pope Benedict XVI, addressing all workers on the feast of Saint Joseph in 2006, also stressed that “Work is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society. Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good. At the same time,” Pope Benedict remarked, “It is indispensable that people do not allow themselves to be enslaved by work or idolize it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life.”

Saint John Paul II said during the celebration of the Jubilee of Workers in the year 2000 that, “The Jubilee Year calls for a rediscovery of the meaning and value of work. It is also an invitation to address the economic and social imbalances in the world of work by re-establishing the right hierarchy of values, giving priority to the dignity of working men and women and to their freedom, responsibility and participation.” John Paul II also encouraged us to “Redress situations of injustice” while not forgetting those “Suffering because of unemployment, inadequate wages or lack of material resources.
Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfilment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized.” 

Accompanying the Popes’ words are images that combine different lived experiences revolving around the world of work. First, we see a carpentry workshop with a 19th century statue of St. Joseph the Worker hand-carved from linden wood by master craftsmen from Val Gardena; various shots from the International City of Loppiano where work is experienced from the perspective of communion – a ceramic studio, an agricultural cooperative, a company specializing in the packaging and finishing of a variety of items –Other images portray the exploitation millions of workers experience in various parts of the world.

Since the end of the 19th century, the world of work has always been very present in the Church’s teaching. This is the result of their attentiveness to and concern for the reality of their time. In fact, according to data from the UN and the International Labour Organization, 402.4 million people throughout the world cannot find work; 160 million children are forced to work; 240 million workers are paid less than $3.65 a day; and more than 60% of the world’s active population work in the informal economy, which means that some 2 billion people lack workers’ rights and social protection.

The International Director of the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, Father Cristóbal Fones, explains that for Saint John Paul II, the human person is called to work given the fact that we are “Made in the image and likeness of God.” It is precisely the Lord that gives us the possibility of participating in his creative work through our own work. Father Fones continues, “His successor Benedict XVI states in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate that decent employment for everyone is a first priority”. Father Fones reminds us of the teaching of Pope Francis he says “Pope Francis tells us that work is sacred. It is a means by which we build a more human society. If we want a more just society, we must promote decent, stable employment, that takes place in healthy environments with adequate safety measures, with respect for basic rights and social protection, as well as a salary that allows the family to maintain a good quality of life. This will be possible if the authentic value of work is restored by abandoning the logic of profit at any cost, and by placing the person at the center.”