Pope to grandparents and elderly: God's loving eyes are upon you at all times

“Through the prophet Isaiah, the Lord promises that he will never forget any of us. He assures us that he has engraved our faces on the palms of His hands (cf. Is 49:16) and that His love is greater than a mother’s love for her child (cf. Is 49:15).”

This comforting reminder was offered at the beginning of Pope Leo XIV’s Message for the Sixth World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, to be held on the fourth Sunday of July, on the theme “I will never forget you (Is 49:15),” which the Vatican released today.In the text, Pope Leo says that the prophet gives us a glimpse of an intimate and intense dialogue in which God addresses, in familiar terms, each person individually and the people as a whole, saying that even today, we can read these words as referring to each of us.

These words that fill us with comfort and hope, he said, are the answer to an agonizing feeling that troubles the heart: “The Lord has forsaken me; my Lord has forgotten me” (Is 49:14).

The Pope acknowledged that quite a few elderly people share the painful feeling of being forgotten, especially as they experience loneliness or sometimes being reduced to a bed number or illness.

Pope Leo said that the celebration of the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly is an opportunity to rediscover that the Church is called to be a mother to all, and that at any age, “it is always possible to recognize ourselves as sons and daughters of God.”