God forgets no one, Pope says in message to elderly

This year, the day is celebrated on July 26, with a theme of “I Will Never Forget You”. Reflecting on this theme, taken from the book of the prophet Isaiah, the Holy Father emphasised that “these are words that fill us with comfort and hope”.

He recalled the “painful feeling of being forgotten”, something shared by many people, especially the elderly.

In the face of this sense of abandonment, the Holy Father recalled that God’s love, which “forgets no one”, is also “an act of justice and a response to the anonymity in which human life all too often ends up lost”.

The Pontiff turned his attention to elderly people who have been forgotten and who live in homes “where loneliness reigns” or in care facilities “where each person’s uniqueness risks being reduced to a bed number or an illness”.

He proposed the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly as an opportunity “to rediscover that the Church is called to be a mother to all and that at any age it is always possible to recognise ourselves as sons and daughters of God”.

He suggested that the day be “an inspiration for everyone, especially the young, to revive the beautiful custom of visiting their grandparents, the elderly members of the family and even those who have no one to visit them”.

Pope Leo said the Church “understands the suffering of her elderly members; she knows full well that they are all too often viewed through the lens of stereotypes and considered a burden”. He noted in particular the weakening of family ties and the abandonment of many elderly people by children forced to migrate or to fight in wars.

The Pope also stressed that it is possible to live old age as Christians, “fragile” yet at the same time “called”. He noted that a person can be “born anew in old age” and choose paths not of power but of reconciliation and peace.

He said that even in old age “we do not cease to be sons and daughters; therefore, the invitation to return to the arms of God – whose love is both paternal and maternal – remains worthwhile at any age”.

He also noted that the final stage of life “can become the right time to begin or resume a spiritual life” and to encounter God anew.

FULL STORY

Pope Leo XIV comforts elderly suffering from loneliness: God’s love ‘forgets no one’ (By Almudena Martínez-Bordiú/EWTN News)