Intergenerational love has the power to transform society and impart wisdom, Pope Francis said in a recent event that gathered over 6,000 grandparents and grandchildren, where he spoke about the rights of the elderly and the society’s duty to them.
In a report published by the Vatican News on Saturday, Pope Francis noted that love between the elderly and the young makes our societies richer. There is only one world and it is made up of many generations, the leader of the Catholic church reminded.
“Different generations and peoples, if harmonized, can reveal the wonderful splendor of humanity and creation, like the facets of a great diamond,” Pope Francis said, urging everyone not to subscribe to ideas of thinking only for oneself.
Such an attitude leads to loneliness and a throwaway culture in which the elderly are left alone to spend their last years away from their loved ones. The Holy Father said it is important for young people and the elderly to spend time together because it makes the world better, richer, and wiser.
“Let us build this world together,” he said, “not only by developing assistance programs but by cultivating various projects where the passing years are not seen as a loss that diminishes someone, but as a good that grows and enriches everyone: and as such are appreciated and not feared.”
Pope Francis delivered the address in an event promoted by the Great Age Foundation at the Paul VI Audience Hall in Vatican City, entitled “The Caress and the Smile.” He thanked Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, the President of the Pontifical Academy for Life, which helped promote the event.
The Holy Father told a story he had heard from his own grandmother about a young boy whose grandfather humiliated him when he ate sloppily at table.
After the grandfather made his grandson sit at a table by himself, the boy began to tinker with a hammer and nails. His father then asked him what he was doing, and the boy replied: “I’m building a table for you, for when you grow old and have to eat alone!”
Pope Francis said the lesson he learned from his grandmother was never to exclude anyone, just as Jesus never excludes or humiliates anyone.
“It is only by being together with love, not excluding anyone, that we become better, more human!” said the Pope.
Pope Francis then recalled that love shared between generations makes us wiser, like the elderly Simeon and Anna, who were the only people who recognized Jesus as the Son of God when His parents brought Him to the Temple.
Society, said the Pope, forgets things quickly when grandparents are ignored.
“Listen to [grandparents], especially when they teach you with their love and their testimony to cultivate the most important affections, which are not obtained by force, do not appear with success, but fill life,” he said.
Grandparents, added the Pope, can also teach younger generations about the horrors of war and the importance of seeking peace.
“When you, grandparents and grandchildren, elderly and young, are together, when you see and hear each other often, when you take care of each other,” concluded Pope Francis, “your love is a breath of fresh air that refreshes the world and society and makes us all stronger, beyond family ties.”