Pope Francis: the Church must recognize the gifts of older Catholics

Old age "is not a disease, it is a privilege" and Catholic dioceses and parishes lack a huge and growing resource if they ignore their senior members, said Pope Francis.

"We need to change our pastoral routines to respond to the presence of so many older people in our families and communities," said the pope to Catholic elders and pastoral workers around the world.

Francis addressed the group on January 31, at the end of a three-day conference on the pastoral care of the elderly promoted by the Vatican Dicastery for the laity, family and life.

The Catholic Church at every level, he said, must respond to longer life expectations and demographic change evident worldwide.

While some people see retirement as the time when productivity and strength decrease, the 83-year-old pope said, for others it is a time when they are still physically fit and mentally acute but have much more freedom than when they had to work and raise a family.

In both situations, he said, the church must be there to offer a hand, if necessary, to benefit from the gifts of the elderly and to work to counteract the social attitudes that see old people as unnecessary burdens on a community.

Speaking to and about older Catholics, the church cannot act as if their lives had only one past, "a moldy archive," he said. "No. The Lord also can and wants to write new pages with them, pages of holiness, service and prayer. "

"Today I want to tell you that the elders are the present and tomorrow of the church," he said. “Yes, I am also the future of a church, which, together with young people, prophesies and dreams. That is why it is so important that old and young people talk to each other. It's so important. "

"In the Bible, longevity is a blessing," observed the pope. It is time to face a person's fragility and to recognize how mutual love and care are within a family.

"Giving long life, God the father gives time to deepen his awareness and deepen intimacy with him, to get closer to his heart and abandon himself to him," said the Pope. “It is time to prepare to hand over our spirit definitively, with the trust of the children. But it is also a moment of renewed fruitfulness. "

Indeed, the Vatican conference, "The Wealth of Many Years of Life," spent most of the time discussing the gifts that older Catholics bring to the church as they talked about their special needs.

The discussion of the conference, the pope said, cannot be an "isolated initiative", but must continue at the national, diocesan and parish level.

The church, he said, should be the place "where different generations are called to share God's loving plan."

A few days before the feast of the Presentation of the Lord, on February 2, Francis indicated the story of the elderly Simeon and Anna who are in the Temple, they take 40 days of Jesus, recognize him as the Messiah and "proclaim the revolution of tenderness ".

A message from that story is that the good news of salvation in Christ is meant for all people of all ages, he said. “So, I ask you, do not spare any effort in proclaiming the gospel to grandparents and elders. Go out to meet them with a smile on your face and the Gospel in your hands. Leave your parishes and go looking for the elderly who live alone. "

While aging is not a disease, "loneliness can be a disease," he said. "But with charity, closeness and spiritual comfort, we can cure it."

Francis also asked pastors to keep in mind that while many parents today do not have religious education, education or the drive to teach their children about the Catholic faith, many grandparents do. "They are an indispensable link for educating children and young people to faith".

The elderly, he said, "are not only people we are called to assist and protect in order to safeguard their lives, but they can be protagonists of evangelization, privileged witnesses of God's faithful love".