Pope:
a society that discards the elderly carries within a deadly virus
(Vatican
Radio) “Where the elderly are not honoured, there is no future for the young”.
This was the powerful message delivered by Pope Francis during his catechesis
on Wednesday, devoted to the elderly.
Speaking
to the crowds gathered in St Peter’s Square for the weekly General Audience the
Pope continued in his series of teachings on the family, focusing this time on
the role of grandparents.
Reflecting
on the fact that life expectancy has increased in modern societies, Francis
denounced a widespread lack of respect and consideration for the elderly and
their dignity.
Recalling
the words of Benedict XVI during a visit to an old age home when he said: “The
quality of a society, I mean of a civilization, is also judged by how it treats
elderly people and by the place it gives them in community life”, Pope Francis
reiterated: “It is true, attention for the elderly is what makes the difference
within a civilization”.
Nowadays,
he said, people tend to live longer, but often our societies not only fail to
make room for the elderly, but even consider them a burden.
And
recounting an anecdote dating back to when he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires,
Pope Francis told of how when visiting an old age home, he stopped to chat to
one of the guests and asked her how her children were doing: “Well” answered
the old woman. “Do they come to visit you?” he said. “Oh yes, always” she replied.
“And when was the last time they came?” he continued. “At Christmas” she said.
“It was August… Eight months without a visit from her children – this Pope
Francis said is a mortal sin.”
“It’s
is a mortal sin to discard our elderly”. The Pope insisted: “The elderly are
not aliens, we are them, in a short or in a long while; we are inevitably
them, even although we choose not to think about it”.
“If
we do not learn to look after and to respect our elderly, we will be treated in
the same way” he warned.
“A
society where the elderly are discarded carries within it the virus of death”
he said.
And
calling the issue a major challenge for Western societies which are marked on
the one hand by aging populations and on the other by a cult of youth
efficiency and profit which tends to discard everything not considered
productive or useful, Pope Francis said that because of the vulnerability and
special needs of the elderly, especially of those who are ill or alone, they
call for particular attention and care.
But
rather than a burden – he said – they are, as the Bible tells us, a storehouse
of wisdom.
The
Church, Francis pointed out, has always accompanied the elderly with gratitude
and affection, making them feel accepted and part of the community.
The
Church, Pope Francis concluded, cannot accept degenerations such as the ones
that see elderly people abandoned and marginalized: “where the elderly are not
honoured there is no future for the young”.
(Linda Bordoni)
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