{"id":25602,"date":"2025-10-03T21:08:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/nieuws\/pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:41:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T10:41:31","slug":"pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry\/","title":{"rendered":"Pope Leo: Old age a gift and challenge; requires response of missionary pastoral ministry"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Pope Leo XIV greets an elderly woman at the Vatican on Oct. 3, 2025. \/ Credit: Vatican Media<\/span>\n<\/div>\n

ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 15:08 pm (CNA).<\/p>\n

Pope Leo XIV on Friday said that old age is both a gift and a challenge, and in response the Catholic Church is called to develop missionary pastoral care that involves the elderly as witnesses of hope.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 3, the pontiff received at the Vatican Apostolic Palace participants in the Second International Congress on Pastoral Care of the Elderly, organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, the Family, and Life.<\/p>\n

In his address<\/a>, Leo XIV emphasized that the theme of the meeting, \u201cYour Elders Shall Dream Dreams,\u201d taken from the book of the prophet Joel, contains words dear to his predecessor, Pope Francis, who often spoke \u201cof the need for an alliance between young and old.\u201d<\/p>\n

The pontiff explained that in this biblical passage, \u201cthe prophet announces the universal outpouring of the Holy Spirit, who creates unity among generations and distributes different gifts to each person.\u201d He also lamented that today, \u201crelationships between generations are often marked by divisions and conflicts that pit them against each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specifically, he referred to two criticisms: that the elderly \u201cdo not leave room for young people in the workforce\u201d or that they are \u201cconsuming too many economic and social resources to the detriment of other generations, as if longevity were a fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this regard, Leo XIV expressed his conviction that \u201cthe elderly are a gift, a blessing to be welcomed,\u201d and that longevity \u201cis one of the signs of hope in our time, everywhere in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the same time, the pontiff emphasized that this is \u201ca challenge, because the growing number of elderly people is an unprecedented historical phenomenon that calls us to discern and understand the reality in new ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this sense, in the face of the current mentality that \u201ctends to value existence if it produces wealth or success, if it exercises power or authority, forgetting that the human being is always a limited creature with needs,\u201d Pope Leo XIV emphasized that the fragility that appears in the elderly is \u201chidden or removed by those who cultivate worldly illusions, so as not to have before their eyes the image of what we will inevitably become.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, he added, \u201cit is healthy to realize that aging is part of the marvel of creation,\u201d as he expressed during the Jubilee of Youth last August.<\/p>\n

The pope invited people to stop being ashamed of human weakness so that \u201cwe will in fact be led to ask for help from our brothers and sisters and from God, who watches over all his creatures as a Father.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Church is called to offer times and tools for understanding old age, so that we can live it in a Christian way, without pretending to remain forever young and without letting ourselves be overcome by discouragement,\u201d continued the pope, who recommended the catechesis Pope Francis dedicated to this topic as \u201cvery valuable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Active participants in evangelization<\/h2>\n

Pope Leo XIV valued the presence of older people who, once their working life is over, \u201chave the opportunity to enjoy an increasingly long period of good health, economic well-being and more free time\u201d and who are often \u201cthe ones who attend Mass assiduously and lead parish activities, such as catechesis and various forms of pastoral service.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is important to find an appropriate language and opportunities for them, involving them not as passive recipients of evangelization but as active subjects, and to respond together with them, and not in their place, to the questions that life and the Gospel pose to us,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

Coming from different life experiences and relationships with the faith, the pontiff noted: \u201cFor all of them, the pastoral care of the elderly must be evangelizing and missionary, because the Church is always called to proclaim Jesus Christ the Savior to every man and woman, at every age and stage of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

This involves, first and foremost, bringing \u201cthem the good news of the Lord\u2019s tenderness, to overcome, together with them, the darkness of loneliness, the great enemy of the lives of the elderly\u201d in a missionary task that \u201cchallenges all of us, our parishes, and, in a particular way, young people, who can become witnesses of closeness and mutual listening to those who are further along in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn other cases, missionary evangelization will help older people to encounter the Lord and his word.\u00a0With advancing age, in fact, many people begin to question the meaning of existence, creating an opportunity to seek an authentic relationship with God and to deepen their vocation to holiness,\u201d the pontiff noted.<\/p>\n

Finally, Leo XIV recalled that \u201cproclaiming the Gospel is the primary task of our pastoral ministry: By involving older people in this missionary dynamic, they too will be witnesses of hope, especially through their wisdom, devotion, and experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story <\/em>was first published<\/em><\/a> by ACI Prensa, CNA\u2019s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Pope Leo XIV greets an elderly woman at the Vatican on Oct. 3, 2025. \/ Credit: Vatican Media ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 15:08 pm (CNA). Pope Leo XIV on Friday said that old age is both a gift and a challenge, and in response the Catholic Church is called to develop missionary […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25603,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[859],"tags":[],"bron":[41],"class_list":["post-25602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","bron-cna"],"acf":[],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-300x200.jpg","large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-1024x683.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-768x512.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-1536x1024.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-2048x1365.jpg","Inhoud breed":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-860x573.jpg","echo_preview_image":"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/25602-pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry-219x146.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"\nPope Leo: Old age a gift and challenge; requires response of missionary pastoral ministry - ExploreCatholic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/explorecatholic.nl\/en\/news\/pope-leo-old-age-a-gift-and-challenge-requires-response-of-missionary-pastoral-ministry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pope Leo: Old age a gift and challenge; requires response of missionary pastoral ministry - ExploreCatholic\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Pope Leo XIV greets an elderly woman at the Vatican on Oct. 3, 2025. \/ Credit: Vatican Media ACI Prensa Staff, Oct 3, 2025 \/ 15:08 pm (CNA). 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