VATICAN INFORMATION SERVICE
YEAR XXII - # 045
DATE 04-03-2015

Summary:
- General audience: awaken a collective sense of gratitude towards
grandparents and the elderly
- The Pope receives bishop friends of the Focolare Movement
- Other Pontifical Acts

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 General audience: awaken a collective sense of gratitude towards grandparents
and the elderly
 Vatican City, 4 March 2015 (VIS) - Grandparents were the focus of this
Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square. Continuing his catechesis
on the family, today the Pope considered the difficult current situation faced
by the elderly, commenting that next week he will present a more positive view
of the vocation that corresponds to this stage in life.
 Thanks to advances in medical care, the Holy Father observed, life expectancy
has increased and there is a far greater number of elderly people, but
nevertheless society has not adapted to this change, and has not responded by
creating space for them, with the respect and consideration their fragility
and dignity demand. "When we are young, we are induced to ignore old age, as
if it were an illness to keep at bay; however, once we become old, especially
if we are poor, ill and alone, we experience the gaps in a society programmed
for efficiency, which as a consequence ignores the elderly".
 He recalled the words of Benedict XVI during his visit to a residential home
for the elderly: "The quality of a society ... is also judged by how it treats
elderly people and by the place it gives them in community life", and
exclaimed, "A civilisation can sustain itself if it respects wisdom, the
wisdom of the elderly. On the contrary, a civilisation in which there is no
place for the elderly or in which they are discarded because they create
problems ... carries the virus of death".
 He continued, "In the west, scholars present the current century as 'the
century of old age: there are fewer children and an increase in elderly
people. This imbalance is a great challenge to contemporary society. And yet,
a certain culture of profit insists on making the elderly appear to be a
burden, an extra weight. They are not only unproductive; they are an
encumbrance, and are to be discarded. And discarding them is sinful. We do not
dare to say this openly, but it happens. There is something cowardly in this
inurement to throwaway culture. We want to remove our growing fear of weakness
and vulnerability, but in this way we increase in the elderly the anguish of
being inadequately supported and abandoned".
 Francis recalled that during his ministry in Buenos Aires he had first hand
experience of these problems. "The elderly are abandoned, and not only to
material precariousness. They are abandoned as a result of our selfish
inability to accept their limits, which reflect our own limits, in the many
difficulties that they must overcome nowadays to survive in a civilization
that does not allow them to participate, to have their say, or to be referents
according to a consumerist model in which 'only the young can be useful and
can enjoy themselves'. The elderly should instead be, for all of society, the
reserve of wisdom of our population. How easy it is for our conscience to
slumber when there is no love".
 In the tradition of the Church, there is "a legacy of wisdom that has always
promoted a culture of closeness to the elderly, a willingness to provide
affectionate and supportive accompaniment in this final stage of life. This
tradition is rooted in the Sacred Scripture". Therefore, "the Church cannot
and does n wish to conform to a mentality of impatience, far less indifference
and disdain, with regard to old age. We must reawaken our collective sense of
gratitude, appreciation and hospitality that enable the elderly to feel like a
living part of the community. The elderly are men and women, mothers and
fathers who have walked the same road before us, in the same house, in our
everyday struggle for a dignified life. They are men and women from whom we
have received much. The elderly person is not an alien. We are the elderly:
sooner or later but in any case inevitably, even if we do not think about it".
 "We are all a little fragile, the elderly", he continued. "Some, however, are
particularly weak, many are alone, and affected by illness. Some depend on the
indispensable care and attention of others. Will we take a step back for this?
Will we abandon them to their fate? A society without closeness, in which
gratuitousness and selfless affection - even among strangers - are
disappearing, is a perverse society. The Church, faithful to the Word of God,
cannot tolerate these degenerations. A Christian community in which closeness
and gratuitousness are no longer considered indispensable, would lose its soul
with this. Where there is no honour to the elderly, there is no future for the
young".

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 The Pope receives bishop friends of the Focolare Movement
 Vatican City, 4 March 2015 (VIS) - The Pope, before today's general audience,
received in the Paul VI Hall the seventy prelates from thirty-five countries
attending the 38th Congress of Bishop Friends of the Focolare Movement, which
began yesterday and will conclude on 6 March. The theme of the congress is
"Eucharist, mystery of communion". The president of the Movement, Maria Voce,
and the co-president Jesus Moran, were also present in the Paul VI Hall.
Following greetings from Cardinal Francis Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij,
archbishop of Bangkok, Thailand, the Holy Father gave a brief address.
 "You have united in Rome the friendship of this Movement and an interest in
the spirituality of communion", said the Holy Father. "Effectively, the
charism of unity, typical of the Work of Mary, is strongly anchored in the
Eucharist, which confers its Christian and ecclesial character. Without the
Eucharist, unity would be reduced to an emotion and a solely human,
psychological, sociological dynamic. Instead, the Eucharist guarantees that
Christ is at the centre, that it is His Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that guides
our steps and our initiatives for encounter and communion".
 "As bishops, we gather our communities around the Eucharist, the dual
nourishment of the Word and the Bread of Life. This is our service, and it is
fundamental. The bishop is the principle of unity in the Church, but this is
not possible without the Eucharist: the bishop does not gather the people
around his person or his ideas, but rather around Christ, present in His Word
and in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood. And following Jesus, the good
pastor who made Himself lamb, sacrificed and resurrected, the bishop gathers
the flock entrusted to him by offering his life, assuming himself a form of
Eucharistic existence."
 The Holy Father gave special thanks to the prelates from the "bloodsoaked
lands" of Syria, Iraq and Ukraine. "In the suffering you live with your
people, you experience the strength that comes from Jesus in the Eucharist,
the strength to go ahead united in faith and hope. In the daily celebration of
Mass we join with you, and we pray for you, offering Christ's Sacrifice; and
in this way the many initiatives of solidarity with your Churches take on
strength and meaning".
 "Dear brothers", he concluded, "I encourage you to continue in your
commitment to promoting the ecumenical path and interreligious dialogue. And I
thank you for the contribution you give towards greater communion between the
various ecclesial movements".

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 Other Pontifical Acts
 Vatican City, 4 March 2015 (VIS) - The Holy Father has:
 - appointed Bishop Joaquim Wladimir Lopes Dias as bishop of Colatina (area
13,086, population 568,000, Catholics 484,000, priests 59, permanent deacons
11, religious 86), Brazil. Bishop Lopes Dias is currently auxiliary of the
archdiocese of Vitoria, Brazil.
 - appointed Rev. Jorge Cuapio Bautista as auxiliary of the archdiocese of
Tlalnepantla (area 682, population 2,300,239, Catholics 1,953,239, priests
312, permanent deacons 10, religious 347), Mexico. The bishop-elect was born
in Santa Ana Chiauhteman, Mexico in 1967 and was ordained a priest in 1992. He
belongs to the Community of the Missionaries of Our Lady of the Sacred Heart.
He holds a licentiate in philosophy from the Universidad Popular Autonoma of
the state of Pueblo, and a licentiate in science of the family from the John
Paul II Institute in Rome. He has served in a number of pastoral roles in the
diocese of Texcoco, including parish vicar, professor in the seminary, parish
priest of the "San Salvador" and "San Bartolome Apostol" parishes, episcopal
vicar for pastoral ministry and member of the College of Consultors. He
currently assists in the parish of "Santa Isabel Ixtapan".
 - accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of
Tlalnepantla, Mexico, presented by Bishop Francisco Ramirez Navarro upon
reaching the age limit.

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