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This morning, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the grandparents, elderly and grandchildren who participated in the meeting “The caress and the smile” organized by the Fondazione Età Grande (“Great Age Foundation”).

The following is the address delivered by the Pope to those present during the audience:

 

Address of the Holy Father

Dear grandparents and dear grandchildren, good morning and welcome!

I greet Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia and all those who have collaborated to organize this moment of celebration. And particular thanks go to the many showbusiness personalities who have wished to participate. Thank you! We all have a grandfather and a grandmother, two grandfathers, two grandmothers… it is a beautiful experience to have a grandparent! But even Italy has a grandfather! And for this reason, I want to greet the grandfather of Italy, who is present here.

It is good to welcome you here, grandparents and grandchildren, young and not so young. Today we see, as the Psalm says, how good it is to be together (cf. Ps 133). One only has to look at you to understand it, because there is love between you. And it is precisely on this that I would like us to reflect a moment: on the fact that love makes us better, love makes us better, it makes us richer and it makes us wiser, at any age. Love makes us better.

Firstly: love makes us better . You too show this, that you make each other better by loving each other. And I say this too you as a “grandfather”, with the desire to share the ever-youthful faith that unites all generations. I too received it from my grandmother, from whom I first learned about Jesus who loves us, who never leaves us alone, and who urges us too to be close to each other and never to exclude anyone. I still remember the first prayers my grandmother taught me. It was from her that I heard the story of that family where there was the grandfather who, since he could not eat easily at the table and got dirty, had been sent away to eat alone. And it was not a good thing, my grandmother told me that story… It was not a good thing, on the contrary, it was very bad! And so, the grandson – so continues the story my grandmother told me – the grandson tinkered around for a few days with hammer and nails, and when his dad asked him what he was doing, he replied: “I'm building a table for you, so you can eat alone when you get old!” And my grandmother taught me this, and I have never forgotten this story. Do not forget it either, because it is only by being together with love, not excluding anyone, that one becomes better, one becomes more humane!

Not only this, but we also become richer . How is this? Our society is full of people who are specialists in many things, rich in knowledge and useful means for everyone. However, if there is no sharing and each person thinks only of himself, all that wealth is lost; rather, it becomes an impoverishment of humanity. And this is a great risk for our time: the poverty of fragmentation and selfishness. The selfish person thinks he is more important if he puts himself in the foreground and has more things, if he has more things… But the selfish person is the poorest, because selfishness impoverishes. Let us think, for example, of some expressions we use: when we talk about the “world of youth”, the “world of the elderly”, this world or another… But there is just one world! And it is made up of many realities that are different precisely in order to help and complement each other: the generations, the peoples, and all the differences, if harmonized, can reveal, like the faces of a big diamond, the wondrous splendour of humanity and creation. This too is what your being together teaches us: not to let diversity create rifts between us! No, let there not be rifts… Not to pulverize the diamond of love, the most beautiful treasure God has given us: love.

At times we hear phrases such as “think of yourself!”, that phrase “think of yourself”, “don’t need anyone!”. They are false phrases, which mislead people into thinking that it is good not to depend on others, to do things by yourself, to live as islands, whereas these are attitudes that only create a great deal of loneliness. Such as, for example, when because of the culture of rejection, the elderly are left alone and have to spend the last years of their life far from home and from their loved ones. What do you think about this? Is it good or is it not good? No! The elderly must not be left by themselves, they must live within the family, in the community, with the affection of everyone. And if they cannot live with their families, we must go to visit them and stay close to them. Let us think about it for a moment: do we like this? Isn't a world in which no one has to be afraid to end their days alone much better? This world is sad, clearly yes, it is sad. So let us build this world, together, not just by devising care programmes, but by cultivating different projects of existence, in which the passing years are not considered a loss that diminishes someone, but an asset that grows and enriches everyone: and as such are appreciated and not feared.

And this brings us to the final aspect: love, the love that makes us wiser. It is curious: love makes us wiser. Dear grandchildren, your grandparents are the memory of a world without memory, and “when a community loses its memory, it’s over” ( Address to the Sant’Egidio Community , 15 June 2014). A question: what happens to a society that loses its memory? ( The young people answer ) It’s over. We must not lose our memory. Listen to your grandparents, especially when they teach you, with their love and with their witness, to cultivate the most important affections, which are not obtained by force, which do not appear through success, but which fill life.

It is not a coincidence that it was two elderly people, I like to think two grandparents, Simeon and Anna, who recognized Jesus when he was taken to the Temple by Mary and Joseph (cf . Lk 2:22-38). It was these two grandparents who recognized Jesus, before everyone else. They welcomed Him, they took Him in their arms and they understood – only they understood – what was happening: that God was there, present, and that He was watching them through the eyes of a child. Do you understand? These two elderly people, look at them. Only they realized, seeing the infant Jesus, that the Messiah had come, the Saviour everyone was waiting for. It was the elderly who understood the Mystery.

Elderly people wear glasses – almost all of them – but they can see far. How come? They can see far, because they have lived for many years, and have many things to teach: for example, how bad war is. A long time ago, I learned this precisely from my grandfather, who had lived in 1914, at the Piave, the first World War, and through his stories he made me understand that war is a horrible thing, never to be done. He also taught me a beautiful song, that I still remember. Do you want me to tell you? ( The young people say “Yes!” ). Think about it well, the soldiers at the Piave sang this: “General Cadorno wrote to the Queen, if you want to see Trieste, look at a postcard!”. It is beautiful! The soldiers used to sing it.

Visit your grandparents and do not marginalize them, for your own good: “The marginalization of the elderly – both conceptual and practical – corrupts all seasons of life, not just that of old age” ( Catechesis , 1 June 2022). And in the other diocese I used to visit rest homes for the elderly, and I always used to ask: “How many children do you have?” “Many, many!” “And do they come to visit you?” “Yes, always – I remember once – they always come”. And when I left, the nurse would say to me, “How good that woman is, how she covers up for her children: they come twice a year, no more”. Grandparents are generous: they know how to cover up bad things. Please, go to see your grandparents, do not marginalize them: it is for your own good. The marginalization of the elderly corrupts all the seasons of life, not just that of old age. I like to repeat this. Instead, you learn the wisdom of their strong love, and also of their frailty, which is a “magisterium” capable of teaching without the need for words, a true antidote to the hardening of the heart: it will hep you not to remain stuck in the present, and to savour life as a relationship (cf. Benedict XVI, Greeting in the family home ‘Long Live the Elderly’ , 12 November 2012). But not only that: when you, grandparents and grandchildren, old and young, are together, when you see and hear each other often, when you care for each other, your love is a breath of clean air that refreshes the world and society and makes us all stronger, beyond the bonds of kinship.

It is the message, this is the message that Jesus gave us too, on the cross, when He “saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing near, [and] He said to His mother, ‘Woman, behold your son!’ Then He said to the disciple, ‘Behold your mother!’ And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home” ( Jn 19:26-27). With those words He entrusted to us a miracle to perform: that of loving us all as one great family.

Dear friends, thank you, thank you for being here, and thank you for what you are doing with the “ Età Grande ” Foundation! Together, united, you are an example and a gift to all. I remember you in prayer, I bless you, and please, do not forget to pray for me. Thank you, thank you very much!

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

- His Eminence Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, O.S.A., prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops;

- His Eminence Cardinal Carlos Aguiar Retes, archbishop of México, Mexico;

- Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, S.D.B., titular of Sila, apostolic nuncio in Malta and in Libya;

- Ms. Dilma Rousseff, former President of the Republic of Brazil; President of the New Development Bank Brics , and entourage;

- Community of the Seminary of Burgos, Spain;

- Grandparents, the elderly, and grandchildren participating in the meeting organized by the Fondazione Grande Età.

This morning, in the Vatican Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father received in audience the community of the Seminary of Burgos, in Spain, to whom he addressed the following greeting:

 

Greeting of the Holy Father

Dear brother bishops.

Dear priests and seminarians,

I am glad to welcome you here today, in the house of Peter, and I thank God in a special way because I see two things in you. The first, a mosaic of races, cultures and ages that have come together to respond to Jesus' call to the ministerial priesthood. The second, the fact that you are being formed in a place in the world that was perhaps unthinkable for many; a land rich in history and tradition, of vigorous people “because of climate and customs”, but which you now refer to as “la España vaciada", empty Spain. I am reminded of the beautiful “Catar de mio Cid”, when it talks about Burgos: “Cid Ruy Diaz entered Burgos with sixty banners in tow. They came out to see him, the men and women; the people of Burgos at the windows had tears in their eyes”. This always comes to my mind when I speak of Burgos. I was there in the seventies; I met the archbishop at the time who was related to an uncle of mine, a politician. This is why I remember Burgos.

In reflecting on the reason why God has brought us to the place where we are, it is good to recall the passage of Saint Luke in which Jesus sends His disciples “where he himself was about to come” ( Lk 10:1). It is a good criterion for discernment and examination, because we can translate it into our reality with a few simple words: “Jesus wants me to be in this emptied land to fill it with God”, or rather, so that I can make Him present among my brothers and sisters, in order to build communities, to build the Church, the people.

First of all, this purpose is fulfilled if there is a heterogeneous group that recognizes welcome and mutual enrichment. Without charity towards God and our brethren, without walking “two by two”, as the evangelist goes on to say, we cannot bring God.

Then, by showing absolute willingness to the Lord, “praying to Him” to send us, even though we may seem small compared to a task – the harvest – so great. And this is very important. And after, the attitude of surrender and trust, so that the only emptiness is made in our heart in order to welcome God and our brethren – this would be the third thing - freeing us from false human securities.

To have God in us fills us with peace, a peace we can communicate, that we can bring to all peoples, the cities, that we can wish for every place. And in this way you will fill with your light the fields that seem barren, replenishing them with hope. May Jesus bless you and the Holy Virgin keep you.

Today, 26 April 2024, in the Apostolic Palace, the Holy Father Francis received in audience the President of the Republic of Tajikistan, His Excellency Mr. Emomali Rahmon, who subsequently met with His Eminence Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by His Excellency Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, Secretary for Relations with States and International Organizations.

During the course of the cordial discussion, held at the Secretariat of State,  the good relations between the Holy See and Tajikistan were evoked, and mention was made of some aspects of the country’s political and socio-economic situation.

Special attention was paid to the importance of dialogue and mutual understanding between peoples and cultures for the promotion of peace and stability in the world.

From the Vatican, 26 April 2024

This morning, the Holy Father Francis received in audience:

- Members of the “Fundación Memorial Papa Francisco”;

- Archbishop Pietro Pioppo, titular of Torcello, apostolic nuncio in Indonesia and at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations;

- Bishop Ángel Javier Pérez Pueyo of Barbastro-Monzón, Spain;

- His Excellency Mr. Emomali Rahmon, President of the Republic of Tajikistan, and entourage;

- Members of the Italian Draughts Foundation;

- Bishops of Basilicata, on their “ad Limina Apostolorum” visit.