Elderly

 

Pope Francis calls the abandonment of the elderly “tantamount to a hidden euthanasia”

By Dave Andrusko
To put it mildly, a headline that read only, “Pope’s Meeting With the Elderly in St. Peter’s Square” missed all that was special Sunday in a gathering Pope Francis (and his predecessor Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI) had with elderly from around the world.
According to the news agency Zenit, on the initiative of the Pontifical Council for the Family, thousands of elderly and grandparents, accompanied by their families, came to in St. Peter’s Square in Rome.
Pope Francis’ warning was strong and clear: “How many times are old people just discarded, victims of an abandonment that is tantamount to hidden euthanasia? This is the result of a throw-away culture that is hurting our world so much.”
The Pope went on to say at a meeting entitled, “The Blessings of a Long Life,” that “A people that does not care for its grandparents, that does not treat them well, are people that have no future! Why do they not have a future? Because they lose their memory and [are torn] from their roots.”
Even in the most difficult trials, Pope Francis said, “the elderly who have faith are like trees that continue to bear fruit. And this is true also in the most ordinary situations where, however, there can be other temptations and other forms of discrimination.”
He said when the elderly person does not have a family that can receive them, the homes that are established

“must be truly homes and not prisons! They must be for the elderly and not for the interests of someone else! There must not be institutes where the elderly live forgotten, as hidden, neglected. I feel close to so many elderly who live in these institutes. …Homes for the elderly should be ‘lungs’ of humanity in a country, in a neighborhood, in a parish; they should be ‘shrines’ of humanity where one who is old and weak is taken care of and protected as an older brother or sister. It does so much good to go to meet an elderly person. Look at our youngsters: sometimes we see them listless and sad; Then they go to see an elderly person and they become joyful!”

Source: NRLC News