The text of the Angelus recitation of 21 December 2025 pronounced by Pope Leo XIV
«Today, the fourth Sunday of Advent, the Liturgy invites us to meditate on the figure of Saint Joseph. He presents it to us, in particular, at the moment in which God reveals his mission to him in a dream. He thus offers us a very beautiful page of 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 “just man”, and this characterizes him as a pious Israelite, who observes the Law and frequents the synagogue. In addition to this, however, Joseph of Nazareth also appears to us as an extremely sensitive and human person. We see it when, even before the Angel reveals to him the mystery that is taking place in Mary, faced with a situation difficult to understand and accept, he does not choose, towards his future bride, the path of scandal and public condemnation, but the discreet and benevolent one of secret repudiation.
And so he shows that he grasps the deepest meaning of his own religious observance: that of mercy. The purity and nobility of his feelings, however, become even more evident when the Lord, in a dream, reveals to him his plan of salvation, indicating the unexpected role that he will have to take on: being the husband of the Virgin Mother of the Messiah.
In fact, here Joseph, with a great act of faith, also leaves the last shore of his security and sets out towards a future that is now totally in the hands of God. Saint Augustine describes his assent thus: «To the piety and charity of Joseph, a son was born from the virgin Mary, and precisely the Son of God».
Piety and charity, mercy and abandonment: these are the virtues of the man of Nazareth that the Liturgy proposes to us today, so that they accompany us in these last days of Advent, towards Holy Christmas. They are important attitudes, which educate the heart to encounter Christ and our brothers, and which can help us to be, for each other, a welcoming nativity scene, a hospitable home, a sign of God’s presence. In this time of grace, let us not miss the opportunity to practice them: forgiving, encouraging, giving a little hope to the people we live with and those we meet; and renewing in prayer our filial abandonment to the Lord and his Providence, entrusting everything to him with trust.
I address a special greeting to the children and young people of Rome! Dear ones, you have come with your family members and catechists for the blessing of the statuettes of Baby Jesus, to be placed in the nativity scene of your homes, schools and oratories. I thank the Centro Oratori Romani which organized this event and I heartily bless all the little children. Dear children, in front of the nativity scene, pray to Jesus also for the Pope’s intentions. In particular, let us pray together so that all the children of the world can live in peace.
