Pope Francis: St. Joseph is protecting the Catholic Church

St. Joseph continues to protect the Catholic Church today, just like he protected the Virgin Mary and Child Jesus, Pope Francis said at his general audience on Wednesday.

“In the Gospel of Luke, Joseph appears as the guardian of Jesus and of Mary. And for this reason, he is also ‘the Guardian of the Church,’” the pope said Nov. 24 at the live-streamed gathering in the Vatican’s Paul VI Hall.

Quoting Patris corde, his 2020 apostolic letter on St. Joseph, he added: “If [Joseph] was the custodian of Jesus and Mary, now that he is in heaven, he works and continues to be the custodian, in this case, of the Church; ‘For the Church is the continuation of the Body of Christ in history, even as Mary’s motherhood is reflected in the motherhood of the Church. In his continued protection of the Church’ — please do not forget this: today Joseph protects the Church — ‘he continues to protect the child and his mother.’”

He concluded his audience with a prayer to St. Joseph to help anyone who is feeling this way:

“St. Joseph,
you who guarded the bond with Mary and Jesus,
help us to care for the relationships in our lives.
May no one experience the sense of abandonment
that comes from loneliness.
Let each of us be reconciled with our own history,
with those who have gone before,
and recognize even in the mistakes committed
a way through which Providence has made a path,
and evil did not have the last word.
Show yourself to be a friend to those who struggle the most,
and as you supported Mary and Jesus in difficult times,
support us too on our journey. Amen.”

During the pope’s greetings at the end of the catechesis, a group of pilgrims from the United States sang the Apostles’ Creed while holding a banner with the words “You are Peter and on this rock I will build my Church.” The background of the banner depicted the U.S. flag, a metal fence, and an icon of the Virgin Mary.

A group from Neocatechumenal communities in the Archdiocese of Newark, New Jersey, had sung the Apostles’ Creed at the pope’s Nov. 10 audience. They held a banner that read: “Peter confirm our faith.”