Grandparents and the Elderly 2024
World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly 2024
Sunday, 28 July 2024
The fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly will be celebrated this year on Sunday, 28 July 2024. Pope Francis inaugurated this World Day to be celebrated by the universal Church each July, either on or near the liturgical Memorial of Saints Joachim and Anne, grandparents of Jesus, to help “treasure the spiritual and human wealth that has been handed down from generation to generation.”
In his Message for the fourth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, Pope Francis shares this year’s theme for the Day: “Do not cast me off in my old age” (Psalm 71:9). He invites the Catholic faithful to reflect on the loneliness of the elderly, encouraging us to “take a new path” and to spend time with them, “acknowledging their unique role in the family, in society and in the Church…”
Let us welcome this opportunity to ‘build something different’, reaching out to each other, both young and old, to strengthen our bonds of love and fraternity, so that no one may ever feel ‘cast off’, lonely, or discarded.
Resources to promote World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 2024
The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life has prepared a Pastoral Toolkit designed to promote a “Day without loneliness”. The toolkit includes the official logo, a catechesis on old age, recent texts from the Magisterium, the official prayer for the World Day, and pastoral suggestions.
The Holy Father’s Message and the Pastoral Toolkit are also available on the Dicastery’s website, as well as available for viewing and downloading on Google Drive via the link below:
- Prayer
- Logo
- Pope Francis’ Message
- Pastoral Guidelines
- Press Release
- Press Release
- Social Media
- Pope Francis’ Catechesis on Old Age
- Pope Francis’ Homily
- Pope Francis: The caress and the smile