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
Christmas 2023
A meditation for the Christmas Season by the Prefect of the Dicastery, Card. Farrell
Dear friends, A few days ago, the Holy Father extended an invitation to us when he said, “Let us value silence, sobriety and listening. May Mary, Virgin of silence, help us to love the desert ...
The Pope Video
In conjunction with the opening of World Youth Day in Lisbon, The Pope Video focuses on the fundamental role of young people in the life of the Church and the world
“When I go to the church in my neighborhood, I see only old people. Is the Church only for old people?”. This is the question directed to Pope Francis that opens this Pope Video which coincides ...
Grandparents and the elderly
8 thousand present in Saint Peter’s for the III World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
“Be vigilant so that we do not marginalize the elderly in our families or lives”. This was the message pronounced made by Pope Francis during his homily at the Mass he celebrated together with ...
