Old age: ‘not a burden to manage, but a gift to cherish’

By Lorena Leonardi 

“It is not enough to organize services; we must build relationships.” Only in this way can “the certainty of not being forgotten by God” become “the daily experience of not being forgotten by one’s parish and one’s family.”

With these words, in an interview with Vatican News, Vittorio Scelzo, an official of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life and head of its pastoral care of the elderly, reflected on the six years since the institution of the World Day dedicated to grandparents and the elderly. This year it was celebrated on Sunday, 26 July, the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary—in other words, “Jesus’ grandparents.”

The World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly this year reached its sixth ‘edition,’ if you will. Looking back, what assessment can be made of the journey so far?

Over these years, the World Day has gradually become established as a regular fixture in the life of the Church. Born in response to the isolation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, it has given reflection on old age a broader and more coherent framework. The objective has never been simply to celebrate a special day, but rather to foster the development of a genuine pastoral ministry for older people, capable of moving beyond an understanding of old age that is limited to care and assistance. Older people are no longer seen merely as recipients of charitable services, but as active subjects of pastoral life. They make up a significant portion of the People of God, and it is essential that they receive the pastoral attention they deserve. The long-term challenge is to transform this awareness into ordinary pastoral practice, embedding it in the formative journey of ecclesial communities.

The theme chosen by Leo XIV, “I will never forget you” (Isaiah 49:15), highlights God’s closeness and the community’s commitment to older people, especially those who are most alone. What concrete perspectives does this message open up?

The words of Isaiah open up some very meaningful perspectives. First of all, they call us to overcome what Pope Francis described as the “throwaway culture,” urging communities to go out and seek out older people. In a time when people’s worth is measured by their efficiency, those who lose their strength or their memory risk feeling forgotten. Leo XIV adds that “God’s love, which forgets no one, is the answer to the anonymity in which human life so often loses itself.” The message reminds us that the Church’s mission is to make this divine “not forgetting” visible and tangible, echoing the encyclical Magnifica humanitas. It is not enough to affirm the dignity of older people in words; we must go out to meet them, draw close through a visit or an embrace. In practical terms, the Pope is asking people to visit the elderly—an invitation that carries particular weight at this time of year, marked by the summer heat and by a loneliness that is often even more acute than at other times. This may seem—and indeed is—a call for greater social concern. Yet experience teaches us that such closeness will cease to be an isolated gesture only when older people are truly placed at the center of the Church’s life. Then everyone will recognize how precious their presence is: not a burden to manage, but a gift to cherish.

Practically speaking what does this look like?

Practically speaking, this means that the community must take responsibility for addressing loneliness, the real poverty of old age. It is not enough to organize services; we must build relationships. As we often say in the Dicastery, the challenge is to move “from assistance to existence,” creating ways of living in which older people feel they belong to a communal “we.” The certainty of not being forgotten by God must become the daily experience of not being forgotten by one’s parish and one’s family.

Over these years you have gathered many significant experiences from dioceses and parishes. Are there particularly successful initiatives or good practices that reflect a growing awareness of the needs of older people?

Yes. The Dicastery’s ongoing monitoring reveals a remarkable degree of pastoral creativity, with different responses depending on geographical context. In many Latin American dioceses, the celebration is closely linked to devotion to Saint Anne. In Venezuela, the pastoral ministry for the elderly is especially committed to ensuring that the message, “I will never forget you,” reaches all older people affected by the earthquake. Asia and Africa also offer many initiatives that, beginning with the World Day, place older people back at the heart of ecclesial life. The Diocese of Kampala in Uganda is probably the one with the most extensive and widespread activities. In India, meanwhile, it has been young people who, over the years, have created social media campaigns to promote the World Day. One practice that is spreading everywhere, and which we have strongly encouraged, is visiting elderly people who live alone. Many parishes have organized regular companionship visits through dedicated volunteer schedules. In Europe, projects promoting an “intergenerational alliance” stand out, bringing young and old together for moments of prayer or recreation, overcoming a generational divide that ultimately impoverishes both groups. When older people return to the center of community life, the whole community benefits.

The Holy Father invites the Church to make closeness to older people an ordinary style of ecclesial life, rather than something limited to a single day. What are the main challenges to making this happen today?

Above all, a change of mindset is needed—not only in society, but also among older people themselves. It is unacceptable to spend, or allow others to spend, twenty or thirty years without purpose or mission. Old age is a season of life that must discover its own spirituality; it is not an empty period to be filled or managed while waiting for the end. Nor can we pretend it does not exist and continue living as though time had never passed. Addressing older people directly in his message, Pope Leo XIV encourages them with a clear appeal: “Do not be afraid of frailty!” He explains that this weakness, when accepted, opens the heart to prayer and itself becomes a vocation. A concrete sign of this is the mission the Pope entrusts precisely to older people: to join him in persistent prayer that peace may soon come to the world. It is a vocation, not a spiritual retirement.

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To accompany the World Day, pastoral resources, the official prayer, and other materials have been prepared. Who are they intended for, and how can they help communities celebrate this occasion in a concrete way?

The resources that have been prepared—the so-called “pastoral kit,” available on the Dicastery’s website—are practical tools designed to support the work of ecclesial communities. The proposal is deliberately simple: celebrate a Mass with older people, ideally in the cathedral church, and visit elderly members of the community who live alone. These are very concrete guidelines. In keeping with this year’s theme, communities are asked to forget no one, and therefore to visit even those who are bedridden or unable to take part in parish activities. For them too, the World Day is a call to renewal and to take seriously Leo XIV’s request that they intercede for peace.