Pope Francis has established throughout the Church the celebration of the
World Day for Grandparents and Elderly beginning in 2021 on the fourth Sunday of July, near the liturgical memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, the grandparents of Jesus. The announcement of this celebration coincides with the celebration of the Year of Amoris Laetitia Family, which began on the Solemnity of Saint Joseph the husband of Mary, on March 19, 2021, and will conclude at the World Meeting of Families in Rome in June of 2022.
Gathered together as a people around the Lord, we discover the beauty of being part of the same family and of being able to feel that we are all children− even those of us who are advanced in years − beloved of the one Father. So we understand that, as the Pope says in Fratelli Tutti, we are not saved alone. This is what those five thousand gathered around Jesus experienced, and it is clearer today to all of us who live at a time still affected by the pandemic.
The elderly are not saved by themselves alone because they need strong legs on which to make their dreams walk.
Young people are not saved by themselves alone because they need someone to tell them that even from a dark night, the sun of a new dawn can rise.