“Tenderness is something greater than the logic of the world. It is an unexpected way of doing justice,” Pope Francis said in his general audience on Jan. 19.

“It is good to think about the fact that Jesus himself worked and had learned this craft from St. Joseph,” Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience. “Today, we should ask ourselves what we can do to recover the value of work.”

“Sometimes we live in a spirit of a ‘parking lot’; we stay parked, without the impulse of desire that carries us forward. We do well to ask: where are we on our journey of faith?”

“It is a risk, yes: having a child is always a risk, either naturally or by adoption,” Pope Francis said. ”But it is riskier not to have them.”

This is what we should ask Jesus for at Christmas: the grace of littleness.

“Humility is the only way that leads us to God.”

“Profoundness of the heart grows with silence, silence that is not mutism as I said, but which leaves space for wisdom, reflection and the Holy Spirit.”

"Five years have passed since I visited this place with my dear brothers Bartholomew and Ieronymos. After all this time, we see that little has changed with regard to the issue of migration."

“We fought. My God, I said bad words. I said awful things. But now, to finish the day, I must make peace”. You know why? Because the cold war the next day is very dangerous.

“Everyone can find in St. Joseph—the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily presence, of discreet and hidden presence—an intercessor, a support and a guide in times of difficulty.”