In the Angelus of the IV Sunday of Advent, celebrated this December 21, 2025, in St. Peter’s Square, Pope Leo XIV centered his meditation on the figure of Saint Joseph, presented as a model of concrete faith in the face of uncertainty. The Pontiff highlighted piety, charity, mercy, and trusting abandonment in God as essential virtues of the spouse of the Virgin Mary and as necessary attitudes to prepare the heart for the encounter with Christ at Christmas. In the face of the temptation of human securities, Leo XIV emphasized the example of Saint Joseph, who accepted God’s plan with obedience and faith, inviting the faithful to live this time of grace with forgiveness, hope, and trust in Providence.
We leave below the complete message of Leo XIV:
Dear brothers and sisters: Good morning!
Today, fourth Sunday of Advent, the liturgy invites us to meditate on the figure of Saint Joseph. It presents him to us, in particular, at the moment when God reveals his mission to him in a dream (cf. Mt 1:18-24). In this way, it offers us a very beautiful page from the history of salvation, whose protagonist is a fragile and fallible man—like us—and, at the same time, courageous and strong in faith.
The evangelist Matthew calls him a “righteous man” (cf. Mt 1:19), and this describes him as a pious Israelite who observes the Law and frequents the synagogue. But beyond that, Joseph of Nazareth is also shown to us as an extremely sensitive and human person.
We see this when, even before the Angel reveals to him the mystery that is being fulfilled in Mary, faced with a difficult situation to understand and accept, he does not choose the path of scandal and public condemnation of his future wife, but rather the discreet and benevolent path of a secret divorce (cf. ibid.). In this way, he demonstrates that he has grasped the deeper meaning of his own religious observance: that of mercy.
The purity and nobility of his feelings become even more evident when the Lord, in a dream, reveals his plan of salvation to him, indicating the unexpected role he must assume: to be the spouse of the Virgin Mother of the Messiah. Here, indeed, Joseph, with a great act of faith, leaves even the last shore of his securities and sets sail into the deep toward a future that is now entirely in God’s hands. Saint Augustine describes his consent in this way: “From the piety and charity of Joseph, a son was born to the Virgin Mary, a Son who was also of God” (Sermon 51, 30).
Piety and charity, mercy and abandonment; these are the virtues of the man from Nazareth that the liturgy proposes to us today, so that they may accompany us in these last days of Advent, toward holy Christmas. They are important attitudes that educate the heart for the encounter with Christ and with our brothers and sisters, and that can help us to be, for one another, a welcoming manger, a comfortable home, a sign of God’s presence. In this time of grace, let us not miss the opportunity to practice them: by forgiving, encouraging, giving a little hope to the people we live with and those we meet; and by renewing in prayer our filial abandonment to the Lord and to his Providence, entrusting everything to him with confidence.
May the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph help us in this, they who were the first to welcome Jesus, the Savior of the world, with great faith and love.