Join us in prayer for the intentions from the Pope's Worldwide Prayer Network. For May 2025, we pray for: Working conditions

• Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfillment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized.

Click the video above to watch a message from the last three Popes:

In his annual publication of prayer intentions for 2025, Pope Francis had invited us to pray in May for working conditions…

The Pope’s Worldwide Prayer Network entrusts to the Lord the mission of the new Pope and continues its apostolic work of entrusting to God the challenges of humanity and the Church’s mission…

This month, let us be inspired by this video featuring the words of the last three Popes: Francis, Benedict XVI, and Saint John Paul II.

During a General Audience in 2022, Pope Francis said: “The evangelists Matthew and Mark refer to Joseph as a carpenter. Jesus practised his father’s trade, which was a pretty hard job. From an economic point of view, it did not ensure great earnings. This biographical fact about Joseph and Jesus” made him “think of all the workers in the world.”

“Work”, Pope Francis added, “anoints our dignity: What gives you dignity is not bringing bread home. What gives you dignity is earning your bread.”

Pope Benedict XVI, addressing all workers on the feast of Saint Joseph in 2006, also stressed that “work is of fundamental importance to the fulfilment of the human being and to the development of society. Thus, it must always be organized and carried out with full respect for human dignity and must always serve the common good. At the same time,” Pope Benedict remarked, “it is indispensable that people do not allow themselves to be enslaved by work or idolize it, claiming to find in it the ultimate and definitive meaning of life.”

And Saint John Paul II said during the celebration of the Jubilee of Workers in the year 2000 that, “the Jubilee Year calls for a rediscovery of the meaning and value of work. It is also an invitation to address the economic and social imbalances in the world of work by re-establishing the right hierarchy of values, giving priority to the dignity of working men and women and to their freedom, responsibility and participation.” John Paul II also encouraged us to “redress situations of injustice” while not forgetting those “suffering because of unemployment, inadequate wages or lack of material resources."

Let us pray that through work, each person might find fulfilment, families might be sustained in dignity, and that society might be humanized. 

 

Daily Offering Prayer

God, our Father, I offer You my day. I offer You my prayers, thoughts, words, actions, joys, and sufferings in union with the Heart of Jesus, who continues to offer Himself in the Eucharist for the salvation of the world. May the Holy Spirit, Who guided Jesus, be my guide and my strength today so that I may witness to your love. With Mary, the mother of our Lord and the Church, I pray for all Apostles of Prayer and for the prayer intentions proposed by the Holy Father this month. Amen.  

Traditional Daily Offering of the Apostleship of Prayer

O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer You my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of Your Sacred Heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, and the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all Apostles of Prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. The Apostles of Prayer offer themselves to God each day for the good of the world, the Church, one another, and the Holy Father’s intentions.  

Thank you for praying with us!

Click here to look back on Pope Francis' past prayer intentions on the Salt + Light Media Blog.