By Florida Catholic staff - Florida Catholic
VATICAN | In his annual publication of prayer intentions for 2025, Pope Francis invited us to pray during the month of May “For working conditions.” Due to his death, the format for the video accompanying this prayer intention has changed. It offers for our reflection a few words on this topic from the last three Popes – John Paul II, Benedict XVI and Francis.
The Pope Video for May, produced with the support of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome and the Fondazione PRO Rete Mondiale di Preghiera del Papa and distributed by the Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network, invites us to 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.
160 million children forced to work
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 Popes and the world of work
Pope Francis’s words highlight that “work anoints our dignity,” and earning one’s bread confers dignity on the person. Jesus himself worked as a carpenter, “a pretty hard job,” he continues, that “did not ensure great earnings,” thus associating him to every worker throughout history.
A few phrases from Pope Benedict XVI underline the importance of work “for the fulfillment of the human being and the development of society.” It thus follows that work must be “organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity, and serve the common good.” At the same time, the human person, “must not allow themselves to be enslaved by work…claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life,” which is found in God alone.
Lastly, the words of Saint John Paul II encourage us to face economic and social inequalities and unjust situations present in the working world, “giving priority to the dignity of working men and women and to their freedom, responsibility and participation.” All this, without forgetting those “suffering because of unemployment, inadequate wages or lack of material resources.” It is precisely these inequalities and unjust situations that make it necessary that we pray that the human person be priority of work and the economy, rather than profit.
Mutual well-being
“Work is like air,” comments Lorenzo Tagliavanti, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Rome. “You become aware of its value when you don’t have it. The Holy Father underscores the importance of personal fulfillment, a decent livelihood for one’s family, and the construction of a more human society. He highlights that the meaning of work should be sought in the expression of one’s own dignity and contribution to the common good. As a reference point for the Province of Rome and its economic community, our Institution tries our best to daily promote all these aspects alongside businesses and employees. On the eve of the Jubilees of Workers and of Entrepreneurs, this prayer intention offers us the opportunity to reaffirm the commitment made by another – Pope Gregory XVI – when in 1831 he instituted the Chamber of Commerce of Rome through an edict issued by Secretary of State Cardinal Bernetti to pursue a model of development founded on collaboration and on attentiveness to the common good. Allow me,” Tagliavanti concludes, “to recall the words of His Holiness in 2023 to a group of French entrepreneurs: ‘if it is true that work ennobles the human person, it is even truer that the human person ennobles work.’ For two centuries, it is precisely this attention to the human person that has motivated us in the search for a development model directed toward everyone’s mutual well-being.”
Work and dignity
Another concept the Pope highlights is that the value of work reaches far beyond an economic aspect. “If we were to ask ten children what they want to be when they grow up,” comments Stefano Simontacchi, a founding member and Member of the Board of the Fondazione PRO Rete Mondiale di Preghiera del Papa, “we would probably receive ten different responses because the aspirations of each person are different. In fact, as in the parable of the talents, each of us has been given our own gifts, and work provides us with the opportunity of making them bear fruit, of developing our own personality. There’s much more to work than economic independence, which is also important – there’s also the contribution that one gives back to society. And for us believers, it is also our participation in the divine creation. Pope Francis uses a really beautiful expression to define all this. He says, ‘work anoints our dignity.’ It is this anointing of our dignity that truly makes the difference in our lives. Even more so, this epoch of great change, such as artificial intelligence, must move us to promote networks founded on solidarity as a form of social cohesion. Gratitude, respect and solidarity must be our compass.”
Decent employment for all
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 work. In his encyclical Laborem Exercens, John Paul II tells us that through our work, human dignity, fraternal unity and freedom must be multiplied. The work of a Christian, united to prayer, makes the world advance and, what is most important, we collaborate in the unfolding of the Kingdom of God.
“Picking up on this,” Father Fones continues, “his successor Benedict XVI states in the encyclical Caritas in Veritate that the dignity of the person requires that economic choices not increase inequalities, and that decent employment for everyone is a first priority. Pope Benedict asserts that in many cases, poverty is the result of the violation of the dignity of human work due at times by limiting the possibilities of the person, as in the case of unemployment or underemployment, and at other times by not respecting the right to a decent salary or to the security of the employee and their families.”
In this sense, Father Fones underlines the continuity of the teaching of Pope Francis with that of his predecessors. “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. This entails 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, especially those who are unable to live today in a humanly dignified way.”
Lastly, within the context of the Holy Year 2025, The Pope Video acquires special relevance since through it we know the Pope’s prayer intentions. To properly receive the graces of the Jubilee indulgence, it is necessary to pray for the Pope’s intentions.
