Pope Francis stated on Wednesday that attempting to stop the natural flow of time in search of “eternal youth” and “unlimited wellbeing” is “delusional.”
The pope said at his live-streamed general audience on August 10 that time “is not a threat, it is a promise” from a Christian viewpoint.
“The conceit of stopping time — of wanting eternal youth, unlimited wellbeing, absolute power — is not only impossible, it is delusional,” Pope Francis said in Vatican City’s Paul VI Hall.
“Our existence on earth is the time of the initiation of life; it is life, but one that leads you toward a fuller life … a life which finds fulfillment only in God.”
The pope underlined that life on earth is best understood as a “novitiate,” a preparation for an eternal life in heaven that will be “superior to the time of our mortal life.”
“We are apprentices of life, who — amid a thousand difficulties — learn to appreciate God’s gift, honoring the responsibility of sharing it and making it bear fruit for everyone,” he said.
“We are imperfect from the very beginning, and we remain imperfect up to the end,” Francis added.
He went on to say that life is not designed to “be wrapped up in an imaginary earthly perfection.”
Life “is destined to go beyond, through the passage of death — because death is a passage. Indeed, … our destination is not here, it is beside the Lord, where he dwells forever,” the pope said.
Pope Francis finished a series of catechesis on old age that he started in February with this discourse.
During this period, the 85-year-old Pope has suffered health issues that have reduced his mobility, most notably a right knee ailment.
The pope went slowly with a cane onto the platform of the audience hall for his last catechesis on old age. Later, he addressed the gathering from a wheelchair.
Pope Francis emphasised that old age should be a moment of “expectation,” bringing one closer to the fullness of life in God.
“In the fulfillment of God’s promise, the relationship is inverted: the space of God, which Jesus prepares for us with the utmost care, is superior to the time of our mortal life. Hence: old age brings closer the hope of this fulfillment,” Pope Francis said.
“Old age knows definitively, by now, the meaning of time and the limitations of the place in which we live our initiation. This is why old age is wise. God’s world is an infinite space, in which the passage of time no longer carries any weight,” he said.
At the close of the audience, Pope Francis prayed for Cuba, where a lightning strike at an oil refinery caused many explosions and a deadly fire.
The pope also voiced his worry for Ukraine, where people are “still suffering from this cruel war,” as well as for migrants.
This year, Pope Francis delivered 16 reflections on the dignity of the old in his audiences. He has not yet announced the next theme for his weekly catecheses, which will begin a fresh cycle next Wednesday morning.
“Old age is the phase in life most suited to spreading the joyful news that life is the initiation to a final fulfillment. The elderly are a promise, a witness of promise. And the best is yet to come,” Pope Francis said.