Encounters of the "grandfather of the world" with the "grandfather of Italy".In the year of preparation for the Jubilee, which the Holy Father wished to dedicate to prayer, the theme of the IV Jubilee of the Year of Prayer was World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly is taken from Psalm 71, the invocation of an old man who relates his story of friendship with God.
By valuing the charisms of grandparents and the elderly and their contribution to the life of the Church, the Day aims to encourage the commitment of the entire ecclesial community in building bonds between generations and in the fight against loneliness, aware that, as Scripture affirms, "it is not fitting for a man to be alone".
"Very often loneliness is the bitter companion of the lives of those who, like us, are elderly and grandparents. As bishop of Buenos Aires, I often had occasion to visit homes for the elderly and I noticed how few visits these people received; some had not seen their loved ones for many months," writes the Pontiff in his Message for the July Day.
A progressive approach to the elderly
In its Programmatic Exhortation "Evangelii Gaudium"Reflecting on the throwaway culture, the Pope mentioned, among others, the poor, the homeless, migrants and refugees, unborn children, and he also mentioned "the elderly who are increasingly alone and abandoned".
Then, especially since the institution in 2021 of the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, celebrated throughout the Church on the fourth Sunday of July, near the commemoration of St. Joachim and St. Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, the Pope's attention and dedication to this growing social group has been on the rise. In part perhaps also due to Francis' difficulty in fending for himself.
The first example was the 18 catecheses on old age in 2022, with lessons on humanity and Christian anthropology, analyzed in Omnes by Ramiro Pellitero. After World Youth Day 2023, in the first half of this year there have been four dates on which the Pope and the Holy See have fixed their attention in a special way on the elderly and the aged. These were the launch of the Message for the IV World Day, focused on old age and loneliness; the Pope's meeting with six thousand grandparents and grandchildren in the Paul VI Hall and its presentation; the Message to the symposium on palliative care organized by the Canadian Bishops' Conference together with the Pontifical Academy for Life; and now the upcoming World Day on July 28.
The texts were complementary and focused on the need to be together, as a family, without excluding anyone, with love, in a society full of specialists in doing many things, but selfish, individualistic, which only achieves "the impoverishment of humanity". Today's world encourages people not to depend on others, to believe in themselves alone, living as islands, said the Pope, attitudes that only create a lot of loneliness.
After learning of the theme of the July Day, the Prefect of the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family and Life, Cardinal Kevin Farrell, declared: "I am deeply grateful to the Holy Father for having chosen as the theme of the Day the following theme IV World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly the verse from Psalm 71: 'In old age, do not forsake me. It is the 'prayer of an old man', which reminds us that loneliness is an unfortunately widespread reality that afflicts many elderly people, often victims of the throwaway culture and considered a burden on society".
Some features of the Message
"God never abandons his children. Not even when age advances and strength wanes, when gray hairs appear and social status declines, when life becomes less productive and runs the risk of seeming useless. He does not pay attention to appearances and does not disdain to choose those who for many are irrelevant. He does not discard any stone; on the contrary, the 'older' ones are the sure foundation on which the 'new' stones can rest to build the spiritual edifice together". Thus begins the Pope's message for the IV World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly.
In the Bible, the Holy Father adds, "we find the certainty of God's closeness at every stage of life and, at the same time, we find the fear of abandonment, particularly in old age and in times of sorrow. This is not a contradiction. Looking around us, it is not difficult to see how these expressions reflect a reality that is more than evident".
Confronting old and young, a "distorted idea
Francis reflects in a special way in his text that today's society "nourishes persistent generational conflicts between young and old". "Today there is a widespread belief that the elderly burden the young with the cost of the assistance they require." However, the Pontiff warns that this "is a distorted perception of reality," because "the contrast between the generations is a deception and a poisoned fruit of the culture of confrontation." The problem, the Pontiff affirms, is that when we lose sight of the value of each one, "people become a mere burdensome burden." This belief is so widespread that the elderly end up accepting it "and come to regard themselves as a burden, wishing to be the first to step aside."
In his argument, the Pope warns against the trap of individualism, permeated by this confrontational mentality. Seeing oneself in old age, "in need of everything," one finds oneself alone, "without any help, without anyone to count on. It is a sad discovery that many people make when it is too late. In the face of the prevailing culture, the Holy Father proposes the biblical example of Ruth, who stays with her mother-in-law Naomi. She "teaches us that to the plea 'do not forsake me' it is possible to answer 'I will not forsake you'. Her story allows us to "walk a new path" and "imagine a different future for our elders," reports Paloma López Campos.
The elderly, treasure of the Church
The Pope takes advantage of his message to thank "all those people who, even with many sacrifices, have effectively followed the example of Ruth and are taking care of an elderly person, or simply show every day their closeness to relatives or acquaintances who have no one".
Francis concludes by encouraging Catholics to be close to the elderly and to recognize "the irreplaceable role they have in the family, in society and in the Church". He also gives his blessing to "dear grandparents and the elderly, and all those who accompany them," promising to pray for them and asking them to pray for him as well.
Francis, with six thousand grandparents and grandchildren
The immediate precedent for this Day was the Pope's meeting with six thousand grandparents and grandchildren in the Paul VI Hall, organized by the Età Grande (Great Age) Foundation, with the encouragement of its president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, president of the Pontifical Academy for Life. "Grandparents and grandchildren are two extreme generations that cannot live without the intermediate ones. This is a magisterium that adults and young people must listen to," assured Archbishop Paglia at the presentation.
At the meeting, which was also introduced by the comic actor Lino Banfi, the Pontiff stressed that "love makes us better, enriches us and makes us wiser". And he expressed it "with the desire to share the ever-youthful faith that unites all generations, and which I received from my grandmother, from whom I first met Jesus." "From her I heard the story of that family in which there was the grandfather who, as he no longer ate well at the table and got dirty, they threw him out, they put him to eat alone. It was not a nice thing to do, in fact it was very bad! So the grandson put in a few days with the hammer and nails, and when dad asked him what he was doing, he replied, 'I'm building a table for you to eat by yourself when you're old!' This my grandmother taught me, and I've never forgotten it since."
"Old people see far, because they have lived so many years," the Pope noted, "and they have so much to teach: for example, how bad war is. I, a long time ago, learned this from my grandfather, who had lived through the First World War and who, through his stories, made me understand that war is a horrible thing. Seek out your grandparents and do not marginalize them, for your own sake: 'The marginalization of the elderly (...) corrupts all the seasons of life, not only old age'".
The Pope concluded: "It is not by chance that it was two elderly people, I like to think of them as two grandparents, Simeon and Anna, who recognized Jesus when he was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem by Mary and Joseph (cf. Lk 2:22-38). They welcomed him, took him in their arms and understood - they alone understood - what was happening: that God was there, present, and was looking at them with the eyes of a child. They alone understood, when they saw the little Jesus, that the Messiah had arrived, the Savior they were all waiting for".
The event had begun an hour and a half before the Pope's arrival, with the testimony of the so-called "grandfather of Italy", the comic actor Lino Banfi, and the singer Al Bano, together with Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, who called Lino Banfi the grandfather of Europe, and the latter in turn "grandfather of the world" to Pope Francis.
