On Sunday, Pope Francis instituted a “World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly” in the Roman Catholic Church to celebrate once a year to honor them and to emphasize their importance to society.
Francis, who made the surprising announcement during his Sunday afternoon speech, said it will be marked every year on the fourth Sunday of July in Catholic communities around the world.
The Catholic Church already has a World Day of Peace instituted by Pope Paul in 1967, a World Youth Day instituted by Pope John Paul II in 1984, and a World Day of the Poor that Francis started in 2017.
In those days, the worldwide Church held special events and religious services to draw attention to the needs and characteristics of the groups.
Francis, 84, has appealed to society to nurture the elderly as a source of wisdom and experience, and he deplores a ‘throwaway culture’ that pushes them aside because they are no longer productive.
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