Pope Francis on July 12, 2022, said the knee pain he experienced for several months “scared me, in the sense of ‘think a little about what your future is going to be like now.’” / Credit: Daniel Ibáñez/ACI PressPope Francis made it a point to think about the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly while en route to Canada on Sunday.
The Catholic Church celebrated this holy day on Sunday for the second consecutive year.
It is observed on the fourth Sunday in July to closely correspond with the feast day of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s parents and the grandparents of Jesus, who were born on June 26.
The 85-year-old pope spoke to roughly 80 journalists on board an ITA Airways aircraft to Edmonton, western Canada, instead of giving his regular Sunday discourse prior to the reciting of the Angelus at the Vatican. He discussed grandparents and the elderly.
The pope reportedly added, “There is no Angelus, so let’s do it here, the Angelus,” according to an unauthorised translation into English.
It’s Grandparents Day, according to Pope Francis, and grandparents and grandmothers are the ones who have given down history, traditions, rituals, and a variety of other things.
In his subsequent advice to young people, he compared this practise to a “tree that gathers strength from the roots and carries it forward in blooms and fruits,” urging them to maintain contact with their grandparents.
“As a religious, I also want to keep in mind the wisdom of the older men and women who have chosen to live a life of chastity, the ‘grandparents’ of consecrated life: Please do not hide them; the novices need to interact with them.
The pope stated that they would provide us with everyone with the life experience that would be so helpful in the future.
Let us honour them today in a special way, the pope said. “Each of us has grandfathers and grandmothers, some are gone, some are alive.
“We have learned so much from them, starting with history. Thanks a lot!
The pope urged grandparents and the elderly to “be craftsmen of the revolution of tenderness” in a tweet earlier in the day.