In his message for the Fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly (28 July 2024) Pope Francis says that “Solitude and abandonment have be-come recurrent elements in today’s social landscape. They have multiple roots. In some cases, they are the result of calculated exclusion, a sort of deplorable “social conspiracy”; in others, tragically, a matter of an individual’s personal decision. In still other cases, the elderly submit to this reality, pretending that it is their free choice. Increasingly, we have lost ‘the taste of fraternity’ (Fratelli Tutti, 33); we find it difficult even to think of an alternative.”

“On this Fourth World Day devoted to them, let us show our tender love for the grandparents and the elderly members of our families. Let us spend time with those who are disheartened and no longer hope in the possibility of a different future. In place of the self-centred attitude that leads to loneliness and abandonment, let us instead show the open heart and the joyful face of men and women who have the courage to say ‘I will not abandon you’, and to set out on a different path.”