Pope Francis adds Ethiopia to his list of prayers; marks World Day for Grandparents, elderly

 

Aftermath of the landslide following heavy rains that buried people in Gofa zone 

POPE

• ETHIOPIA
• NATURAL DISASTERS
• ARMS
• WAR
• PEACE
• ANGELUS

Pope prays for victims of Ethiopia landslides, recalls war always a defeat

Pope Francis prayers for victims of the landslides in Ethiopia. He laments that while calamities and hunger continue worldwide, the manufacture and sale of weapons fuel wars and human suffering. He also recalls today's World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, appealing to all to always remember and assist them.

Vatican News

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27/07/2024

Ethiopian Church on frontline of relief efforts in mudslide area

Speaking at the conclusion of the Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis offered his prayers for the victims of the large landslide that swept through a village in southern Ethiopia. He said he is close to the suffering people and to those rescue workers providing assistance. The death toll of 257 victims continues to rise following the two devastating landslides in Gofa Zone, Southern Ethiopia, while the population affected is in desperate need of humanitarian aid. The first landslide in the remote mountainous locality of Kencho Shacha Gozdi was triggered by heavy rains on 21 and 22 July, and the second engulfed those who had gathered to rescue people.

War always a defeat

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28/07/2024

Celebrating grandparents and the elderly: “Do not cast me off in my old age”

The Pope pointed out how so many people in the world are suffering from calamities and hunger, yet the manufacture and sale of weapons continues, fueling wars large and small and consuming global resources. He called it a "scandal" the international community should not tolerate, as well as a contradiction to the the spirit of fraternity characterizing the Olympic Games that just opened in Paris. He underscored that "war is a defeat" for humanity. 

Remembering grandparents and the elderly

The Pope then recalled that Sunday, July 28 this year marks the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, that has as its theme "Do not cast me off in my old age" from the Book of Psalms. He decried how the abandonment of the elderly is a sad reality that must be addressed, especially during the summer when loneliness often becomes a heavy burden to bear. 

He asked everyone to hear the voice of the elderly who say: ‘Don't abandon me!’ and to answer them ‘I will not abandon you!’ He also encouraged a strengthening of the alliance between grandchildren and grandparents, young and old, adding that we all say ‘no’ to the loneliness of the elderly, as our future also depends on how grandparents and grandchildren learn to live together. In conclusion he asked everyone to remember the elderly always and give a round of applause to all grandparents.

World Grandparents Day is this Sunday; you can receive a plenary indulgence

 

Vatican Offers Indulgence

For World Day For 

Grandparents And The Elderly

By

Carol Glatz

Pope Francis greets 100-year-old Lucilla Macelli before celebrating Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, marking World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly July 23, 2023. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Any Catholic who participates in the celebration July 28 of the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly can receive a plenary indulgence, the Vatican announced.

“Grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who, motivated by a true spirit of penance and charity,” attend Mass or other prayer services as part of the day’s celebration can receive the indulgence, which “may also be applied as a suffrage to the souls in purgatory,” said the announcement published July 18 by the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Vatican court charged with granting indulgences.

The Vatican said the indulgence also can apply to those who “devote adequate time to actually or virtually visiting their elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty,” such as those who are sick, lonely or disabled.

To receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins, a person must show detachment from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the pope. The announcement also urged priests “to make themselves available, in a ready and generous spirit,” to hear confessions.

The indulgence also is available to “the elderly sick and all those who, unable to leave their homes for a serious reason,” spiritually join the celebrations, which will be broadcast through various media, and offer “to the merciful God their prayers, pains or sufferings,” the Vatican said.

Pope Francis celebrated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday closest to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents.

In his message for this year’s celebration, Pope Francis focused on the problem of intergenerational conflict, calling it “a fallacy and the poisoned fruit of conflict.”

Dedicated to the theme “Do not cast me off in my old age” from the Book of Psalms, the pope’s message said the elderly must not be accused of saddling younger generations with their medical expenses and pensions — a notion which foments intergenerational conflict and drives older people into isolation.

“The loneliness and abandonment of the elderly is not by chance or inevitable, but the fruit of decisions — political, economic, social and personal decisions — that fail to acknowledge the infinite dignity of each person,” the pope had written.

The pope encouraged all people to express gratitude to those who, often at great sacrifice, “care for an older person or simply demonstrate daily closeness to relatives or acquaintances who no longer have anyone else.”

Pope Francis prepares for World Day for Grandparents & the Elderly

 

Pope Francis greets the elderly during the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, 2023  (Vatican Media)

POPE

• POPE FRANCIS
• MESSAGE
• WORLD DAY
• ELDERLY

Pope: The elderly are the 'firm foundation' of the future

In his Message for the Fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will take place on 28 July 2024, Pope Francis recognizes the situation of many elderly people today, and assures them: “God never abandons His children, never.”

READ ALSO

15/02/2024

‘Loneliness’ at heart of Pope’s theme for 4th Grandparents Day

By Sr. Francine-Marie Cooper, ISSM

“Do not cast me off in my old age” (cf. Ps 71:9): This sincere plea, taken from Psalm 71, is the theme of the Fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, which will take place on 28 July 2024.

Pope Francis chose the Theme for the Day, which is organised by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life.

In his Message for the Fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis reassured the addressees that “God never abandons His children, never.”

He referred to the elderly as “the firm foundation" on which “new” stones can rest, in order to join in erecting a spiritual edifice (cf. 1 Peter 2:5).”

Fear of loneliness

Both the “certainty of God’s closeness at every stage of life and the fear of abandonment, particularly in old age and in times of pain,” can be found in the Bible, Pope Francis writes. And these words “reflect an utterly evident reality.”

“All too often, loneliness is the bleak companion of our lives as elderly persons and grandparents.”

“All too often, loneliness is the bleak companion of our lives as elderly persons and grandparents,” Pope Francis acknowledges.

“There are many reasons for this loneliness,” the Pope continues, “in many places, above all in the poorer countries, the elderly find themselves alone because their children are forced to emigrate.”

He describes the situation of the elderly left in their war-torn countries as “the only signs of life in areas where abandonment and death seem to reign supreme.”

The Pope also decries the beliefs of some local cultures where the elderly “are suspected of using witchcraft to sap the vital energies of the young” and thus are blamed for blows of fate affecting the young.

He goes on to say that “this accusation that the elderly ‘rob the young of their future’ is nowadays present everywhere.  It appears under other guises even in the most advanced and modern societies.”

A conspiracy surrounding the life of the elderly

"The Psalm cited above,” the Pope writes, “speaks to a conspiracy surrounding the life of the elderly.”

And he explains, that the “abandonment of the elderly is not by chance or inevitable, but the fruit of decisions – political, economic, social and personal decisions – that fail to acknowledge the infinite dignity of each person, ‘beyond every circumstance, state or situation the person may ever encounter’.” 

“The passage from ‘us’ to ‘me’ is one of the most evident signs of our times.”

The Holy Father laments that “nowadays many women and men seek personal fulfilment in a life as independent as possible and detached from other people.” “The passage from ‘us’ to ‘me’ is one of the most evident signs of our times,” he writes.

“Solitude and abandonment have become recurrent elements in today’s social landscape,” the Pope admits. 

Following in Ruth’s footsteps

The Holy Father cites the story of Naomi from the Book of Ruth.

Naomi, who had grown old, urged her two daughters to leave her and return to their native towns and their homes. Naomi sees herself as a burden and considers it better to step aside.

One of her daughters does as the mother suggests. The other, Ruth, “does not leave Naomi’s side and, to her surprise, tells her: ‘Do not press me to leave you’ (Ruth 1:16),” the Holy Father writes. “Ruth is not afraid to challenge customs and inbred patterns of thought.”

The Holy Father’s Message concludes with an appeal: “In place of the self-centred attitude that leads to loneliness and abandonment, let us instead show the open heart and the joyful face of men and women who have the courage to say 'I will not abandon you', and to set out on a different path.”

And he conveys his blessing and prayers, “to all of you, dear grandparents and elderly persons, and to all those who are close to you.”

Celebrating both WYD and Grandparents Day at the Sunday Angelus Address

 

Pope Francis flanked by a young man and his grandmother  (Vatican Media)

POPE

• POPE FRANCIS
• WYD
• #WYDLISBON
• ELDERLY
• WORLD DAY
• ANGELUS
• APPEAL
• POLITICS

Pope Francis links messages of WYD and World Grandparents Day

Pope Francis urges young people and the elderly to forge an intergenerational covenant, as the Church marks the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly and prepares for World Youth Day in Lisbon.

By Devin Watkins

Speaking at the Angelus on Sunday, Pope Francis highlighted the celebrations of the 3rd World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, celebrated on Sunday, and the upcoming World Youth Day, scheduled for 1-6 August in Lisbon, Portugal.

Young and old together

He appeared at the window of his office in the Apostolic Palace together with a young person and his grandmother, and invited the crowd in St. Peter’s Square to offer them a round of applause.

“May the proximity of the two World Days offer us an invitation to promote a much-needed covenant between generations, because the future is built together, as we share experiences and as young people and the elderly care for each other,” he said.

The Pope also urged everyone never to forget about the invaluable contributions of grandfathers and grandmothers, inviting everyone again to applaud them.

Politics in favor of the elderly

Earlier on Sunday, in his homily at Mass for the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis called on politicians everywhere to implement policies that protect the rights and health of the elderly.

Crowded cities, he said, risk becoming “centers of loneliness” if societies forget their elders for “banish them as unprofitable waste”.

“May we not chase after the utopias of efficiency and performance at full-speed,” said the Pope in his homily, “lest we become incapable of slowing down to accompany those who struggle to keep up. Please, let us mingle and grow together.”

Papal Mass for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

 

POPE

• POPE FRANCIS
• MASS
• WORLD DAY
• ELDERLY
• HOMILY

Pope at Mass: Grandparents and young ‘grow together’ in fruitful exchange

Pope Francis presides over Mass on the Third World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, and praises intergenerational exchange as a means to learn the beauty of life and strengthen the life of the Church.

By Devin Watkins

As the Church celebrated the 3rd World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly on Sunday, Pope Francis presided over Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica for around 8,000 elderly people from across Italy.

The theme for this year’s iteration of the World Day is “His mercy is from age to age,” recalling a passage from Luke’s Gospel.

In his homily at Mass, Pope Francis reflected on each of the three parables recounted in the day’s Gospel reading, focusing on the common theme they share of “growing together”.

Wheat and weeds growing together

Jesus’ first parable in the Gospel passage, said the Pope, notes that wheat and weeds grow next to one another in the same field, which therefore reminds Christians to be realistic in our outlook on life.

“In human history, as in each of our lives, there is a mixture of light and shadows, love and selfishness,” he said. “Good and evil are even intertwined to the point of seeming inseparable.”

He said that such a realistic attitude pushes aside ideologies and helps us realize that evil dwells not only “outside” of ourselves, but must also be confronted within ourselves.

Patient trust in the Lord

The Pope went on to say that Christians should not seek to uproot the weeds of evil and thereby pull up the good wheat through an “impulsive and aggressive” attitude.

“We frequently see the temptation of seeking to bring about a ‘pure society’, a ‘pure Church’,” he said, “whereas in working to reach this purity, we risk being impatient, intransigent, even violent toward those who have fallen into error.”

The correct attitude in the face of evil, said the Pope, is patience, which leads us to treat others with respect, and the awareness that “the definitive victory over evil is essentially God’s work.”

Accepting the mystery of life

He then recalled that the elderly often look back on their lives with nostalgia and the desire to undo past mistakes. Yet, he said, Jesus invites grandparents and the elderly to “accept the mystery of life with serenity and patience, to leave judgement to Him, and not to live regretful and remorseful lives.”

“Old age is indeed a blessed time,” he said, “for it is the season to be reconciled, a time for looking tenderly at the light that has shone despite the shadows, confident in the hope that the good wheat sown by God will prevail over the weeds with which the devil has wanted to plague our hearts.”

Fruitful exchange for a fraternal society

Pope Francis then turned to the second parable, which tells how the kingdom of heaven grows in human history like a tiny mustard seed.

Growing up and growing old, he said, resembles the growth of the mustard seed into a large tree where others can find shade and comfort.

Grandparents, he added, offer a place for children and grandchildren to learn the warmth of a home and experience care and tenderness.

“In this fruitful exchange,” he said, “we can learn the beauty of life, build a fraternal society, and in the Church be enabled to encounter one another and dialogue between tradition and the newness of the Spirit.”

Handing on the faith

Turning to the third parable, which speaks of mixing yeast and flour to make dough rise, Pope Francis highlighted the verb “to mix” as an invitation for intergenerational exchange.

Individualism and selfishness can thus be overcome, he said, so that elderly people are not marginalized or abandoned in their loneliness.

In conclusion, the Pope urged young people and the elderly to share their gifts and grow together, listening to each other, talking together, and supporting one another.

At the end of the Mass, a group of grandparents offered an example of the Pope’s words as they symbolically handed World Youth Day crosses to several young people who will take part in the WYD event in Lisbon, Portugal, on 1-6 August.

Pope Francis remembers World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly

 

Pope Francis on papal flight to Canada 

POPE

• POPE FRANCIS
• CANADA
• INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
• APOSTOLIC JOURNEY

Pope Francis remembers Grandparents Day on Papal Flight

Aboard Papal Flight for 'Penitential Pilgrimage' to Canada, Pope Francis remembers in a special way the World Day for Grandparents and Elderly celebrated by the Church on Sunday. Before walking to greet journalists in the corridors, the Pope praises grandparents as the roots who must be treasured and bring everything forward.

By Deborah Castellano Lubov

Pope Francis, on his papal flight to Canada, has remembered and praised grandparents, as the Church observes on Sunday the second World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.

The Church observes the World Day each year on the fourth Sunday in July, close to the feast of Jesus' grandparents, Saints Joachim and Anne.

Pope Francis instituted this Day in 2021 since grandparents are often forgotten, but yet "are the link between generations, passing on the experience of life and faith to the young."

We need to go back to grandparents

Pope Francis remembered that Sunday marks the Second World Day for grandparents and elderly, also offering special appreciation for elderly priests and religious.

"It's Grandparents' Day, grandparents, grandmothers, who are the ones who have passed on the history, traditions, habits and many other values.

“Today we need to go back to grandparents, I would say so as a leitmotif in the sense that young people must have contact with their grandparents, go back to them, go back to their roots, not to stay there no, but to take them forward like the tree: which takes strength from the roots and carries it forward in the flowers in the fruit.”

He emphasized how grandparents are responsible for blossoming and maturing future generations and should be respected.

Do not hide elderly religious

"I would also like to remember as a religious, the old men and women religious, the 'grandparents' of consecrated life: please do not hide them, they are the wisdom of a religious family and that the new men and women religious, the novices, the novices we have contact with them, they will give us all the experience of life that will help us so much, so much to go forward..."

The Pope reminded that each one of us has grandparents, some are gone, others are alive.

"Let us remember them today in a special way, from them we have received so many things: first of all history. Thank you."

Reconciliation and Healing

The Holy Father is on his way to Canada for his 37th Apostolic Journey, marking his 56th country visited.

The Pope is making a penitential pilgrimage to the nation aimed at reconciliation and healing with the country's indigenous peoples.

Each papal flight, the Pope greets journalists aboard, and offers words of thanks for their work.

This trip the Holy Father was accompanied by about 80 journalists from more than 10 countries.

Walking throughout flight to greet journalists

Wishing everyone a good Sunday, the Pope thanked them for their "service" and "company."

The Pope confirmed to Holy See Press Office Director, Matteo Bruni, beside him, his willingness to greet the journalists as usual as he walks along the corridors.

"I think I can make it, we can go," he said.

Penitential Pilgrimage

The Holy Father also noted that a special attention and 'spirit' must be dedicated to this Apostolic Journey given it is a penitential pilgrimage to show closeness to the indigenous who have suffered. 

The Pope invited those gathered to join him in praying the Sunday Angelus prayer.

The Holy Father also expressed delight in seeing Valentina Alazraki, journalist of Mexico's TV channel Televisa.