Pope Francis announced that every year, on the fourth Sunday in July, the Roman Catholic Church will “pay tribute” to older people who “can offer their thoughts, experiences and knowledge to others.”
This year Pope Francis will celebrate a special Mass in their honor on the evening of July 25. And in his regular Sunday message, 84-year-old Francis recalled that every year on July 26, the Catholic Church venerates Saints Anna and Joachim, the parents of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Grandmothers and grandfathers, dad stressed, pass on the experience of faith and life to young people. “Their voice is especially valuable, because they praise the Lord and preserve the heritage of mankind,” Francis said, addressing the believers not, as usual, from the window overlooking St. Peter’s Square, but from the library of the Apostolic Palace, so that amid the ongoing pandemic coronavirus does not gather crowds in the square.
“They remind us that old age is a gift, and that grandparents are links in a chain that connects generations, to whom they pass on their wisdom and knowledge,” said the Pope. “Very often we forget about them, we forget about the wealth and importance of their life experience for our self-preservation, for uninterrupted communication with descendants. Different generations should spend more time with each other, Francis emphasized. “In this communication, grandparents will tell about their dreams, about their wishes to their grandchildren, and young people, drawing strength and resilience from them, will be able to move forward more confidently,” the dad concluded.
Newspaper headline:
Honor and respect for old people