Sunday 28 July the Church commemorates the 4th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, instituted by Pope Francis in 2021. This year's theme is ‘do not cast me off in my old age’ (cf Ps 71:9). It recalls the sad reality that the years of old age are marked by abandonment and loneliness, by the ‘culture of discarding’. Yet it is also an invitation to younger people to spend time with the elderly, visit, and care for them. The fragility of the elderly's life is evident, so is their charisma of building relationships between generations.
Many events and celebrations have been promoted by the Community of Sant'Egidio in different parts of the world in this day.
A large delegation of elderly people participated in the liturgy in the church of Saints Joachim and Anne in Rome. Following the celebration, some hundreds of elderly people enjoyed a lunch offered by the Community at the Australian Catholic University.
The elderly of the Community of Sant'Egidio in Rome desired to show their closeness and affection to the elderly in Ukraine who have been experiencing the tragedy of war and suffering from abandonment and the loss of human and family relationships. They collected and shipped gifts for them. The gifts will reach many elderly people visited by the Ukrainian Communities in care homes of the cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk. The friendship of the Community of Sant'Egidio with the elderly in ccare homes dates back to the 1990s and it has never been interrupted. During the war, it has even become stronger. Many young people faithfully visit the elderly, so bonds of tenderness and friendship have been growing, already experiencing a future of peace. More than a thousand elderly Ukrainians will receive a gift from the elderly of Rome for the occasion: colourful water bottles and fans.
There have been many events in various Italian cities, also promoted by the ‘Long live the Elderly!’ programme, such as in Brindisi, Catania, Padua and Florence.
Celebrations have been held in many places in the world, among them in Kampala, Santiago de Cuba, Hong Kong. Visits and celebrations took place in several cities in Indonesia, from Semarang to Jakarta to Medan. Young people visited elderly people living isolated in the countryside near the border on the island of Timor.
