On Friday, July 26, the Church celebrates Saints Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents. Throughout his 11 years of pontificate, Francis has highlighted the importance of older people in society and the need to value their wisdom and experience, as well as combat the throwaway culture.
Thulio Fonseca – Vatican News
The memory of Saints Joachim and Anne, parents of the Virgin Mary and grandparents of Jesus, celebrated by the Church on July 26, is a powerful testimony and an invitation to reflect on the importance of grandparents today. Pope Francis has repeatedly addressed this theme, especially in relation to intergenerational dialogue, combating the throwaway culture, and valuing and listening to the elderly.
At the beginning of his pontificate, in July 2013, Francisco addressed, from the balcony of the Archbishopric of Rio de Janeiro, during the Angelus prayer, thousands of young people from all over the world who had gone to Brazil for the World Youth Day. Day, the opportunity to reflect on a theme that has since become one of the most recurring in his speeches as Pope. Returning to the Aparecida document, on which he worked as a cardinal, he highlighted the following: “Children and the elderly build the future of the people; children because they will carry history forward, and the elderly because they transmit the experience and wisdom of their lives.”
Pope Francis during the general audience on June 15, 2022
Culture of life
Through gestures, speeches, meetings and unexpected encounters, especially during travel, the Holy Father always takes care to offer his attention to the elderly, with respect and affection for those who are living this stage of life. In his address to the elderly during the meeting on 10/15/2016, he defined them as follows:
wisdom of the elderly
During a morning meditation in the Casa Santa Marta church, the Pope recalled an experience he had when he was auxiliary bishop of Buenos Aires:
“It was 1992, and the then Auxiliary Bishop of Buenos Aires, Bergoglio, was about to celebrate his confirmation when an elderly woman, about eighty years old, approached him with eyes that saw far, eyes full of hope. I said to him: ‘Grandma, are you going to go to confession but you don’t have any sins! ’ The lady replied: ‘Father, we all do! ’ Bergoglio replied: ‘But maybe the Lord won’t forgive them? ’ The lady, strong in hope, said: ‘God forgives everything, because if God did not forgive everything, the world would not exist! ’”
Young Jorge Mario Bergoglio and his grandmother Rosa
Grandma Rosa’s presence
During the general audience of 11 March 2015, while reflecting on grandparents, given the value and importance of their role in the family, the Pope affirmed that “the words of grandparents have something special for young people”, and added: “The words that my grandmother gave me in writing on the day of my priestly ordination, and I still carry them with me always in my breviary and I read them and they do me good. Rosa Margherita Vassallo says in the text of her testament:
For Pope Francis, his grandmother Rosa, an Italian who immigrated with her family to Argentina, is of great importance in his vocation. When he was Archbishop of Buenos Aires, Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio said in an interview: “Once, when I was in seminary, my grandmother told me: ‘Never forget that you are about to become a priest, and the most important thing for anyone is to become a priest.’ The priest celebrates Mass. Celebrate Mass, every Mass, as if it were the first and the last.” The Holy Father also noted on another occasion: “It was my grandmother who taught me how to pray. She taught me a lot about the faith and told me stories of the saints.
His Holiness the Pope greets the faithful in St. Peter’s Square
Save and build the story
In 2022, also on the day dedicated to Saint Joachim and Saint Anne, the Supreme Pontiff spoke in his homily at the Edmonton Stadium in Canada, about his grandparents, highlighting two aspects: “We are children of a history that must be preserved” and “We are craftsmen of a history that must be built”, emphasizing:
“Our grandparents and elders wanted to see a more just, more fraternal and more supportive world, and they fought to give us a future. Now, it is up to us not to disappoint them. With their support, who are our roots, it is we who bear fruit, we who are the branches that must flourish and introduce new seeds into history.”
Teachings on Aging
Also in 2022, the Holy Father proposed to the faithful a catechesis on the meaning and value of old age, marked by the example of biblical figures, including Moses, Eleazar and Judith, who paint a picture of the elderly that differs from that often proposed by current culture. He stressed that old age does not only make a person fragile, but is an indispensable witness capable of transmitting wisdom, values and faith to new generations, as one of the elders in the Gospels, Nicodemus, taught us:
“Old age is the condition granted to many of us, in which the miracle of this birth from above can be intimately assimilated and made credible to human society: it conveys not the nostalgia for a birth in due time, but the love of the final destiny observed as a grandfather or grandmother looks at the grandchildren, caressing the grandchildren: that tenderness, freed from all human experiences, which has overcome human experiences and is able to offer love freely, and closeness to each other.
International Day of Grandparents and Older Persons 2024
This year, in his message for the Fourth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, celebrated on the fourth Sunday of July (28/07), and close to the liturgical memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus, the Supreme Pontiff offered a suggested meditation on Psalm 71, “In old age do not abandon me” (Ps 71:9), returning to dealing with rejection in old age, when people encounter contexts of loneliness and feelings of abandonment:
Comprehensive tolerance
On the occasion of the Fourth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, the Apostolic Penitentiary grants a plenary indulgence to grandparents, the elderly and the faithful who participate in the celebrations, subject to the usual conditions: sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion, and prayer for the Holy Father. intentions. This indulgence can also be applied as a vote to the souls in purgatory, the elderly who are sick and all those who, “unable to leave their homes for serious reasons, join spiritually in the sacred duties of the World Day, offering their prayers to the merciful God, suffering and suffering life itself, especially when the various celebrations are broadcast through the media”, may benefit from an indulgence.
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