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
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 ...
Elderly
Starting today, French and Spanish translations of the proceedings of the first international conference on the pastoral care of the elderly are available for free online
The first international conference on the pastoral care of the elderly was an important ecclesial moment during which the Dicastery for the Laity, Family, and Life—as Card. Farrell observed in his ...
Elderly
Publication of the e-book: “The Richness of Many Years of Life”
After launching the campaign “Every senior is your grandparent - #SendYourHug,” which has had an incredible resonance throughout the world, the e-book “The Richness of Many Years of Life,” a ...