Pope Francis, “in order to perpetuate the entrustment of the entire Church to the powerful patronage of the Guardian of Jesus,” proclaimed a special Year of Saint Joseph on the day marking the 150th anniversary of the decree Quemadmodum Deus, by which Blessed Pius IX, “moved by the grave and sorrowful circumstances in which a Church beset by the hostility of men found itself,” declared Saint Joseph the Patron of the Catholic Church.
For this occasion, a plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful who recite “any legitimately approved prayer or act of piety in honor of Saint Joseph, especially on the anniversaries of March 19 and May 1, on the Feast of the Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, on Saint Joseph’s Sunday (according to the Byzantine tradition), on the 19th of each month and every Wednesday, the day dedicated to the memory of the Saint according to the Latin tradition.”

WITH A FATHER’S HEART
Alongside the decree proclaiming the special Year dedicated to Saint Joseph, the Pope published the apostolic letter Patris corde – With a Father’s Heart. The backdrop to the apostolic letter is the pandemic, which makes us experience - Francis writes - “that our lives are woven together and sustained by ordinary people - people usually forgotten - who do not appear in the headlines of newspapers and magazines or on the grand stages of the latest show.” Just like Saint Joseph, “the man who goes unnoticed, the man of daily, discreet and hidden presence, an intercessor, a support and a guide in difficult moments. Saint Joseph reminds us that all those who appear hidden or in the ‘second line’ have an unparalleled leading role in the history of salvation.”
Pope Francis defines Saint Joseph as:
• “A beloved father”: he was Mary’s husband and Jesus’ father. As such, “he placed himself at the service of the entire plan of salvation.” Because of this role in the history of salvation, Saint Joseph is a father who has always been loved by the Christian people.
• “A father in tenderness”: he was able to make room for God even through his own fears and weaknesses. In him, “Jesus saw the tenderness of God,” which “helps us accept our weakness,” because “it is through and despite our weakness” that most divine plans are fulfilled.
• “A father in obedience”: through his “fiat” he saved Mary and Jesus and taught his Son to “do the will of the Father”; called by God to serve Jesus’ mission, he “cooperates in the great mystery of Redemption and is truly a minister of salvation.”
• “A father in acceptance”: “Joseph accepts Mary without setting any prior conditions. He trusts the Angel’s words.” “Joseph sets aside his own reasoning to make room for what is happening and, however mysterious it may appear to him, he accepts it, takes responsibility for it and is reconciled with his own history.”
• “A father with creative courage”: “the carpenter of Nazareth knows how to turn a problem into an opportunity, always putting trust in Providence first.” He faces the concrete problems of his family, exactly as all other families in the world do, especially migrant families. In this sense, Saint Joseph is “truly a special patron” of those who, “forced by misfortune and hunger,” must leave their homeland because of “wars, hatred, persecution and poverty.” Guardian of Jesus and Mary, Joseph “cannot fail to be the guardian of the Church,” of her motherhood and of the Body of Christ: every needy person, poor person, sufferer, dying person, foreigner, prisoner and sick person is “the Child” whom Joseph guards, and from him we must learn to “love the Church and the poor.”
• “A working father”: he was a carpenter who worked honestly to provide for his family’s livelihood. From him Jesus learned the value, dignity and joy of eating the bread earned through one’s own work.
• “A father in the shadows”: the evocative image of the shadow defines Joseph’s figure, who in relation to Jesus is the earthly shadow of the Heavenly Father: he guards and protects him, never separating himself from him as he follows in his footsteps. “Fathers are not born; they are made. Nor does one become a father simply by bringing a child into the world, but by responsibly caring for that child. Whenever someone accepts responsibility for the life of another, in a certain sense they exercise fatherhood toward that person.”

In the apostolic letter, Pope Francis emphasizes that “every true vocation is born of the gift of self, which is the maturation of simple sacrifice. The same kind of maturity is also required in the priesthood and consecrated life.” For this very reason, “the world needs fathers, it rejects masters, that is, it rejects those who want to use possession of another to fill their own emptiness; it rejects those who confuse authority with authoritarianism, service with servility, dialogue with oppression, charity with welfare assistance, strength with destruction.”
The Pontiff also outlines guidelines for fatherhood in the modern world: “Fatherhood that renounces the temptation to live the lives of one’s children always opens up spaces for the new and unexpected. Every child always carries within himself a mystery, something new that can be revealed only with the help of a father who respects his freedom. A father who is aware that he completes his educational role and fully lives out fatherhood only when he has made himself ‘useless,’ when he sees that his child has become autonomous and walks alone along the paths of life.”

Let us prepare to live this special Year under the mantle of Saint Joseph, under his special protection.
We turn to him with the words of the prayer at the conclusion of the apostolic letter:

Hail, Guardian of the Redeemer,
and spouse of the Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his Son;
in you Mary placed her trust;
with you Christ became man.

O Blessed Joseph, show yourself a father to us as well,
and guide us along the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy and courage,
and defend us from every evil. Amen.