General Audience
at Saint Peter's Square on Wednesday, 4 March 2015.
Dear Brothers and
Sisters, Good Morning,
Today’s catechesis and next
Wednesday’s will be dedicated to the elderly, who in the family are the
grandparents, aunts and uncles. Today we will reflect on the current
problematic condition of the elderly, and next time, that is, next Wednesday,
on a more positive note, on the vocation pertaining to this stage of life.
Thanks to the progress of medicine
life-spans have increased: but society has not “expanded” to life! The number
of elderly has multiplied, but our societies are not organized well enough to
make room for them, with proper respect and practical consideration for their
frailty and their dignity. While we are young, we are led to ignore old age, as
if it were a disease to keep away from; then when we become old, especially if
we are poor, if we are sick and alone, we experience the shortcomings of a
society programmed for efficiency, which consequently ignores its elderly. And
the elderly are a wealth not to be ignored.
Benedict XVI, visiting a home for
the elderly, used clear and prophetic words, saying in this way: “The quality
of a society, I mean of a civilization, is also judged by how it treats elderly
people and by the place it gives them in community life” (12 November 2012).
It’s true, attention to the elderly makes the difference in a civilization. Is
there attention to the elderly in a civilization? Is there room for the
elderly? This civilization will move forward if it knows how to respect wisdom,
the wisdom of the elderly. In a civilization in which there is no room for the
elderly or where they are thrown away because they create problems, this
society carries with it the virus of death.
In the West, scientists present the
current century as the aging century: children are diminishing, the elderly are
increasing. This imbalance challenges us, indeed, it is a great challenge for
contemporary society. Yet a culture of profit insists on casting off the old
like a “weight”. Not only do they not produce — this culture thinks — but they
are a burden: in short, what is the outcome of thinking like this? They are
thrown away. It’s brutal to see how the elderly are thrown away, it is a brutal
thing, it is a sin! No one dares to say it openly, but it’s done! There is
something vile in this adherence to the throw-away culture. But we are
accustomed to throwing people away. We want to remove our growing fear of
weakness and vulnerability; but by doing so we increase in the elderly the anxiety
of being poorly tolerated and neglected.
During my ministry in Buenos Aires I
was in direct contact with this reality and its problems: “The elderly are
abandoned, and not only in material instability. They are abandoned out of a
selfish incapacity to accept their limitations that reflect our own
limitations, because of the numerous difficulties that must be overcome in
order to survive in a society that does not allow them to participate, to have
their say, or be referents in the consumer model of ‘only the young can be
useful and enjoy’. These elderly persons throughout society ought to be a
reservoir of wisdom for our people. The elderly are the reservoir of wisdom for
our people! How easily the conscience falls dormant when there is no love!” (Solo
l’amore ci può salvare, Vatican City, 2013, p. 83).
And it happens like that. I
remember, when I was visiting a retirement home, I spoke with each person and I
frequently heard this: “How are you? And your children? Well, well. How many do
you have? Many. And do they come to visit you?. Oh sure, yes, always, yes, they
come. When was the last time they came?” I remember an elderly woman who said
to me: “Mmm, for Christmas”. It was August! Eight months without being visited
by her children, abandoned for eight months! This is called mortal sin,
understand? Once as a child, a grandmother told us the story of an old
grandfather who got dirty while eating because he couldn't easily bring the
spoonful of soup to his mouth. And his son, that is, the father of the family,
had decided to move him from the dinner table and set up a little table in the
kitchen to eat alone, so he couldn’t be seen. In this way he wouldn’t make a
bad impression when friends came over to lunch or dinner. A few days later, he
came home and found his youngest child playing with some wood and a hammer and
nails, he was making something there, he said: “What are you making? — I’m
making a table, papa. — A table, why? — To have one for when you grow old, so
that you can eat there”. Children are more aware than we are!
In the tradition of the Church there
is a wealth of wisdom that has always supported a culture of closeness to the
elderly, a disposition of warm and supportive companionship in this final phase
of life. This tradition is rooted in Sacred Scripture, as these passages from
the Book of Sirach attest: “Do not disregard the discourse of the aged, for
they themselves learned from their fathers; because from them you will gain
understanding and learn how to give an answer in time of need” (Sir 8:9).
The Church cannot and does not want
to conform to a mentality of impatience, and much less of indifference and
contempt, towards old age. We must reawaken the collective sense of gratitude,
of appreciation, of hospitality, which makes the elder feel like a living part
of his community.
Our elders are men and women,
fathers and mothers, who came before us on our own road, in our own house, in
our daily battle for a worthy life. They are men and women from whom we have
received so much. The elder is not an alien. We are that elder: in the near or
far future, but inevitably, even if we don’t think it. And if we don’t learn
how to treat the elder better, that is how we will be treated.
We old people are all a little
fragile. Some, however, are particularly weak, many are alone, and stricken by
illness. Some depend on the indispensable care and attention of others. Are we
going to take a step back? Abandon them to their fate? A society without
proximity, where gratuity and affection without compensation— between strangers
as well — is disappearing, is a perverse society. The Church, faithful to the
Word of God, cannot tolerate such degeneration. A Christian community in which
proximity and gratuity are no longer considered indispensable is a society
which would lose her soul. Where there is no honour for the eldery, there is no
future for the young.
Special Greetings
I greet the English-speaking
pilgrims and visitors taking part in today’s Audience, including those from
Great Britain, Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Korea and the United States of
America. Upon you and your families I cordially invoke joy and peace in the
Lord Jesus. God bless you all!
Dear friends, may our time, marked
by many shadows, be ever illuminated by the sun of hope, which is Christ. He
promised to always be with us and manifests his presence in many ways. It is
our task to proclaim and witness to his love which accompanies us in every
situation. Hence, never tire of entrusting yourselves to Christ and spreading
his Gospel in every environment.
I greet young people, the sick and
newlyweds. Dear young people, may this Lenten journey be an occasion for
authentic conversion so that your faith in Christ might fully mature. Dear sick
people, by participating lovingly in the very suffering of the Son of God
incarnate, may you henceforth share in the joy of his Resurrection. And may
you, dear newlyweds, find in the covenant that Christ, at the cost of his
blood, made with his Church, find the foundation of your marital bond.
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