The Elderly
The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life is busy building “a Church that challenges the throw-away culture with the overflowing joy of a new embrace between young and old!” (Pope Francis, General Audience, March 11, 2015).
For this reason, it fosters and supports the promotion of a pastoral care of the elderly that knows how to enhance their peculiar vocation in the Church, starting from the transmission of the faith to the youngest, from the preservation of their roots and from what can be considered the elderly’s very true specific mission: interceding in prayer.
In 2020, the Dicastery sponsored the 1st International Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly entitled "The Richness of Many Years of Life," the proceedings of which were published in an e-book downloadable for free from this website.
Since 2021, the Dicastery has been promoting the celebration of World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.
News
Elderly
Cardinal Farrell “this is the first fruits of the Amoris Laetitia Family Year"
As announced today after the Angelus, Pope Francis has decided to institute a Church-wide celebration of a World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. Starting this year, it will be held on the ...
Elderly
COMECE and FAFCE publish a document on the elderly and the future of Europe
“Let us transform the crisis due to COVID-19 into an opportunity for a paradigm shift, and for rethinking the way in which we view the elderly.” This presupposition, expressed by the General ...
Elderly
At Christmas, let’s listen to grandparents and the elderly
“Dear young people,” wrote Pope Francis on the occasion of the 32nd World Youth Day, “you need the wisdom and the vision of the elderly. […] They will speak to you of things that can thrill your minds ...
