Pope Francis’ 6 most encouraging thoughts on our elders
“Proclaiming the Gospel and passing on traditions to your grandchildren is a work that does not end with retirement,” Pope Francis said.
Pope Francis has frequently emphasized the vital role that elders have in our society during his pontificate. This theme is so important to the Pontiff that he established the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in January 2021, to be celebrated every year on the fourth Sunday of July. He said that this was to celebrate the day “close to the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents,” whose feast day is on July 26. As we approach the third edition of this day on July 23, 2023, Aleteia presents Pope Francis’ most powerful thoughts on the elderly.
1. The elderly and grandparents are a treasure for young people Pope Francis also highlighted the elderly in a message for young people who are preparing for the 2023 World Youth Day in Lisbon.
“To prepare well, it’s good to look at your roots. Try to spend time with the elderly. […] Talk a little with your grandparents. They will give you wisdom,” he said in a video message published in May 2023.
The dialogue between generations as a way for young people to keep their roots is a key aspect of Pope Francis’ thoughts on the elderly. “What is our calling today, at our age? To preserve our roots, to transmit the faith to the young and to take care of the little ones. Never forget this,” Francis said in his first message for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
This calling involves various duties towards young people, such as sharing with them difficult memories, such as “the painful memory of war” to make sure that they can recall the horrors of history in order to “build a more human and hospitable world.”
Moreover, the elderly, having more experience, can assist young people in finding the right path in their lives.
“The new generations expect from us, the elderly, a word that is prophecy, that opens the doors to new horizons outside that careless world of corruption, of the habit of corrupt things. […] The meaning is this: being a prophet of corruption and saying to others: ‘Stop, I have taken this path and it does not lead you anywhere! Now I will tell you about my experience.’ We, the elderly, should be prophets against corruption,” the Pontiff said during a general audience.
“Proclaiming the Gospel and passing on traditions to your grandchildren is a work that does not end with retirement.”
2. Young people, also reach out to your elders
The relationship between young and old is not only beneficial for young people, but also for the elderly. Pope Francis has stressed how the bond between young and old “will be the transmission of wisdom in humanity.”
“God wants young people to bring joy to the hearts of the elderly, as Mary did to Elizabeth, and learn from their experiences,” he said in his 2023 message for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
“Who, if not the young, can take the dreams of the elderly and make them come true?” he said in his first message. “But for this to happen, we need to keep dreaming. Our dreams of justice, of peace, of solidarity can inspire our young people to have new visions; in this way, together, we can build the future.”
Young people also need to be aware that many elderly are lonely and need companionship. In Pope Francis’ 2021 for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, when many countries were still facing the COVID-19 pandemic, he reminded the elderly of those who came to visit them during these difficult times as “angels” sent by the Lord.
“May every grandfather, every grandmother, every older person, especially those among us who are most alone, receive the visit of an angel!” the Pope said. During a general audience he also urged parents to “please, bring your kids” to the elderly.
3. Producing fruit even in old age In his second message for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis quoted the Psalm “they will still yield fruit in old age” (92:15) to inspire the elderly to rediscover the beauty of their age.
“We are tempted to avoid old age by hiding our wrinkles and pretending to be eternally young, while on the other hand, we imagine that the only thing we can do is wait, thinking sadly that we cannot ‘still yield fruit,’” he explained.
However, the Pontiff emphasized that old age is the ideal time to testify to one’s faith, especially for younger generations. “Old age is the stage in life best suited to spreading the joyful news that life is the beginning of a definitive fulfillment,” he said during a general audience. “The elderly are a promise, a witness of promise. And the best is yet to come. The best is yet to come: It is like the message of elderly believers.”
Francis suggests that the elderly can testify either through practical help or through prayer, which he defines as “the most precious tool” at the elderly’s disposal and the “best adapted” for their age. “Old age must testify to children that they are a blessing. This testimony consists in their initiation — beautiful and hard — into the mystery of our destiny in life that no one can destroy, not even death,” the Pope said.
“I was chosen to become the Bishop of Rome when I had reached, so to speak, retirement age and thought I would not be doing anything new,” Pope Francis said as an encouragement. “You know that the Lord is eternal; he never, ever retires.”
4. End the slow euthanasia of the elderly and oppose the “throw-away” culture Pope Francis has firmly defended the elderly’s right to live, condemning a “hidden and gradual euthanasia” against them, which consists for example in withholding the appropriate medical care in order to “save money.”
This phenomenon reflects a more general mentality that Pope Francis calls “throw-away culture,” which sees the elderly as non productive members of society that can thus be discarded.
“A culture of profit insists on getting rid of the old like a ‘burden.’ Not only do they not produce — this culture thinks — but they are a burden: in short, what is the result of thinking like this? They are thrown away. It’s cruel to see how the elderly are thrown away, it is a cruel thing, it is a sin! No one dares to say it openly, but it’s done! There is something wicked in this adherence to the throw-away culture. But we are used to throwing people away. We want to remove our growing fear of weakness and vulnerability; but by doing so we increase in the elderly the anxiety of being poorly accepted and neglected,” the Pope said during a general audience on the family in 2015.
In fact the Pontiff has also emphasized that society offers the elderly “care plans, but not projects of life,” to allow them to “live fully.”
“Being old is just as important — and beautiful — it is equally important as being young,” he said, emphasizing that old age makes up a third of the entire life span as people increasingly live longer.
5. Old age as oriented toward fulfillment and a life that doesn’t end with death Pope Francis emphasized in one of his general audiences that the elderly have the privileged position of seeing clearly, and with joy, what the true purpose of life is.
“In old age the works of faith, which bring us and others closer to the Kingdom of God, are by now beyond the power of the energy, words, and impulses of youth and maturity. But precisely in this way they make the promise of the true purpose of life even more transparent. And what is the true purpose of life? A place at the table with God, in the world of God,” he explained during a general audience.
The Pontiff also reassured the elderly that death is not something to be afraid of. “Our life is not made to be enclosed in itself, in an imaginary earthly perfection. It is destined to go beyond, through the passage of death — because death is a passage. Indeed, our stable place, our destination, is not here; it is beside the Lord, where he dwells forever,” he explained.
““When will my Lord come? When will I be able to go there”? A little bit of fear, because I don’t know what this step means, and passing through that door causes a little fear. But there is always the hand of the Lord that carries us forward, and beyond the door there is the party,” the Pope said as he described going to the Kingdom of God.
“The time of aging that God gives us is already in itself one of those ‘greater’ works Jesus speaks of. In effect, it is a task that was not given to Jesus to fulfill: his death, his resurrection and his ascent to heaven made it possible for us!”
6. So many biblical examples to inspire the elderly!
During Pope Francis’ cycle of catecheses on old age, from February to August 2022, he also mentioned certain biblical figures as inspiring role models for the elderly. For example he tells the story of Naomi and Ruth, an elderly mother-in-law and her young daughter-in-law, both widows, who through their relationship manage to help each other out of hardship. Similarly, in this year’s message for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis highlights Mary’s visit to Elizabeth as an example of “the bond that unites young and old.”
Another example the Pontiff mentions is Eleazar, a 90-year-old man who refuses to fake-follow a king’s decree in order to save his life. “The central point is this: dishonoring the faith in old age, in order to gain a handful of days, cannot be compared with the legacy one must leave to the young, for entire generations to come. But well done Eleazar!” exclaimed the Pope. Or Judith, “a biblical heroine” who defeated a dictator and went on to live until she was 105. “Judith was soon widowed and had no children, but, as an old woman, she was able to live a season of fullness and serenity, in the knowledge that she had lived to the fullest the mission the Lord had entrusted to her. […] As a young woman, she had won the respect of the community with her courage. As an old woman, she garnered respect because of the tenderness with which she enriched their freedom and affections.”
“Remember: One of these days, take the Bible and look at the Book of Judith: it is very short, it is easy to read. It is ten pages long, no more,” Pope Francis said.
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