On July 24, close to the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, the World Day of the Elderly is celebrated. This year, the theme will be 'In old age, they will still bear fruit' from the Book of Pslams.
The day will coincide with Pope Francis' trip to Canada. He has just concluded a cycle of 15 catecheses on old age and many wonder why he devotes so much of his preaching to the elderly. But the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life have the opposite question.
VITTORIO SCELZO
Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life
Why outside the Church and, besides Pope Francis, is so little said about the elderly? It is clear that the future is full of the elderly—there are so many and the number will only grow.
So how do you not take care of and how do you not have a pastoral, political, social, and economic understanding that this will surely be a part of life for the next few decades.
Vittorio Scelzo, head of the office for the elderly, children and people with disabilities in this Dicastery, sees the need to help the elderly find their vocation essential in a world that believes they have nothing left to contribute.
VITTORIO SCELZO
Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life
We now live 20, 30 years longer without knowing why, how, and what the spirituality of growing old is or what to live life for after retiring? I retire and now I am faced with emptiness? What is the point of living a Christian life when your strength fades and when you are weak and fragile? Is it possible to think that there is no Christian vocation for this time of life? No!
Pope Francis has announced that those who visit an elderly person during the World Day of the Elderly will gain a plenary indulgence. In this way, he hopes that all dioceses will celebrate this event and that young people will spend this time with their grandparents rather than away from the elederly in a large square.
VITTORIO SCELZO
Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life
This meeting between the young and old is really an enriching encounter. The young people usually go with the idea 'I go to help a poor old person. I'm there to help him.' And they're surprised when they recognize that they learned something—that just as in any encounter, it is not one person who teaches and one who learns. Rather, the two embrace.
That is why this year, the symbol of this World Day of the Elderly is, precisely that—an embrace.
RM
TR: KG
