Pope Francis: "Grandparents and the elderly are not leftovers from life"

"Grandparents and the elderly are not leftovers from life, scraps to be thrown away". He states it Papa Francesco in the homily of the Mass of the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, read by the archbishop Rino Fisichella.

“Let us not lose the memory of which the elderly are bearers, because we are children of that history and without roots we will wither - he exhorts -. They have guarded us along the path of growth, now it is up to us to guard their lives, alleviate their difficulties, listen to their needs, create the conditions so that they can be facilitated in their daily tasks and not feel alone ".

“We have just celebrated the liturgy on the occasion of the first World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. A round of applause to all the grandparents, everyone, ”he said Pope Francis at the Angelus.

“Grandparents and grandchildren, young and old together - he continued - manifested one of the beautiful faces of the Church and showed the alliance between the generations. I invite you to celebrate this Day in every community, to go and visit grandparents, the elderly, those who are most alone, to deliver to them my message, inspired by the promise of Jesus: 'I am with you every day' ".

"I ask the Lord - said the Pontiff - that this feast help us who are more advanced in years to respond to his call in this season of life, and show society the value of the presence of grandparents and the elderly, especially in this culture of waste ".

“Grandparents need young people and young people need grandparents - Francis reiterated -: they have to talk, they have to meet. Grandparents have the sap of history, which rises and gives strength to the growing tree ”.

"It comes to mind, I think I mentioned it once - he added -, that passage of a poet (the Argentine Francisco Luis Bernardez, ed): 'everything that the tree has in bloom comes from what it is 'buried'. Without the dialogue between young people and grandparents, history does not go on, life does not go on: this must be resumed, it is a challenge for our culture ”.

“Grandparents have the right to dream while looking at young people - concluded the Pope - and young people have the right to the courage of prophecy by taking the lymph from their grandparents. Please do this, meet grandparents and young people, and talk, talk. And it will make everyone happy ”.