Pope Leo XIV has called on young people to revive the custom of visiting their grandparents, the elderly members of their families, and also those who receive no visits at all. In his message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, published on 15 June, the Pontiff recalls that God never forgets His children and denounces the abandonment suffered by many older people in a society marked by loneliness, fragmentation and the weakening of family bonds.
The message, titled I Will Never Forget You, takes as its starting point the passage from the prophet Isaiah in which the Lord assures that He has engraved the faces of His children on the palms of His hands. Leo XIV presents this promise as a direct response to the feeling of abandonment that especially affects many elderly persons.
The loneliness of the elderly
The Pope warns that “a veil” seems to have spread over the lives of many older people, blurring their faces and covering them with forgetfulness.
This situation, he notes, is felt both in homes where loneliness reigns and in hospital settings where the uniqueness of each person risks being reduced to a bed number or a medical condition.
Faced with this reality, Leo XIV insists that the Church is called to be a mother to all and to remember that at every stage of life a person remains a child of God.
A direct call to young people
The Pontiff asks that the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly serve to resume a concrete practice: visiting the elderly.
“May this Day be an encouragement to everyone, especially the young, to revive the beautiful custom of visiting their own grandparents, the elderly members of the family, and also those who receive no visits,” he states.
Leo XIV asks that these visits convey the Pope’s closeness and affection, so that the words of Isaiah—“I will never forget you”—become “a tender and affectionate encounter.”
Fragility as a vocation
The Pope also recalls words of Francis, who spoke of the elderly as a “new people” because of the historic increase in the number of older persons.
From this perspective, Leo XIV invites reflection on the specific vocation of old age, especially when fragility seems to occupy the center of existence.
“Do not be afraid of fragility!” the Pontiff writes, emphasizing that weakness, when accepted, opens the heart to mutual help and to calling upon God.
It is never too late to return to God
The message also highlights that old age can become an opportune time to begin or resume a spiritual life.
Leo XIV recalls that many people reach old age without having had a real experience of faith. Yet it is precisely in this stage that the ultimate questions about the meaning of life, dependence, care and closeness to God may arise with greater force.
“It is never too late to begin turning to Him,” the Pope affirms.
Prayer for peace and gratitude to the elderly
In the final part of his message, Leo XIV links the experience of fragility with the need to reject the paths of arrogance and power, especially in a time marked by military and social violence.
The Pontiff asks the elderly to join his constant prayer that peace may soon come to the whole world.
He also expressly thanks the spiritual support that older people offer the Church through their prayers, especially when they pray the rosary.
“I thank you because you sustain me every day with your prayers,” the Pope concludes, leaving the elderly with a wish: that the Lord may always renew them in faith, hope and charity.