Leo XIV announces the sixth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly. The biblical theme will be “But I will never forget you”
«But I will never forget you». This is the verse of the prophet Isaiah that Pope Leo XIV chose for the sixth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderlyscheduled for Sunday July 26on the feast of Saints Joachim and Anna, grandparents of Jesus. Behind such a biblical choice there is much more than a devotional appeal. It is the denunciation of a society that has made the marginalization of the elderly a now common and accepted practice. Almost normal.
Because the elderly are fundamental
The Pope speaks of a “blessing”, yes, but the numbers tell an even stronger truth. And they say that the elderly are the hidden welfare of entire Western countries. They are often the ones who keep families in which both parents work, they are the ones who guarantee the daily assistance that the State is no longer able to offer. Yet, the dominant culture considers them a burdenan unproductive residue to be “foisted” to retirement homes or to be forgotten on weekdays. Leo the extension of life is one of the signs of hope of our time.”
The Pontiff explains it without mincing words: fragility “is a bridge to heaven”, not a condemnation to uselessness. “The measure of our humanity is not given by what we can conquer, but by the ability to let ourselves be loved and, when needed, also helped.”
Our grandparents still have dreams
At the Second International Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly on 3 October, the Pope had already been particularly eloquent: “Your elderly people will dream dreams.” Not just memories or regrets: our grandparents, at their age, still have dreams in their drawers. Also for this reason, Leo XIV calls for an evangelizing and missionary pastoral care also for the elderlybecause “the Church is always called to announce Jesus, the Christ the savior, to every man and every woman, in every age and season of life”. The elderly, he says, must be “witnesses of hope, especially with their wisdom, devotion and experience”.
It is a vision that completely overturns the welfarist logic: it is not a question of “dealing” with the elderly as if they were a social problem, but of recognizing them as a spiritual and community resource. “The elderly teach us that salvation does not lie in autonomy, but in humbly recognizing one’s need”, explains the Pope. A lesson that applies to everyone, including young people, in an era that has made self-sufficiency an idol.
The future depends on the memory of the past
What does all this mean for the future? It means that a society incapable of honoring its elders is a society without roots and without perspective. Because it is precisely they, custodians of family and community memory, who guarantee that intergenerational transmission without which all progress becomes ephemeral. Leo XIV knows this well: the choice of 26 July, the day of Saints Joachim and Anne, is not at all random. It is the reference to a genealogy that starts from afar and reaches all the way to Christ. And to us.
