‘I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU’ Is The Theme For Sixth World Day For Grandparents And The Elderly.

Vatican City; February 2026: Pope Leo XIV has chosen “I will never forget you” (Is 49:15) as the theme for the Sixth World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly, said the Vatican’s Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life in a statement.

The World Day, instituted by the late Pope Francis in 2021, is celebrated every fourth Sunday of July and is presented as an opportunity to bring the closeness of the Church to the elderly and to enhance their contribution within families and communities. This year, the date coincides with the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, on Sunday, July 26th, and the Holy Father invites everyone to celebrate the Day with a Eucharistic liturgy in the cathedral church of each individual diocese.

Taken from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, the chosen verse is meant to be a message of consolation and hope for all grandparents and elderly people, especially those who live in loneliness or feel forgotten. At the same time, it is a reminder to families and ecclesial communities not to forget them, recognizing in them a precious presence and a blessing.

The Pope’s choice highlights how God’s love for every person never fails, not even in the fragility of old age. The Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life encourages particular Churches, associations, and ecclesial communities throughout the world to find ways to promote and celebrate the Day within their local contexts, and for this purpose it will later make available specific pastoral resources.

Brazil – In a nursing home in southern Brazil, the Little Missionaries of Mary Immaculate bear witness to the value of live, the transformative power of loving hospitality, and attention to others’ needs, and they share their mission with a resident priest.

Sister Denise Cristina has been a nurse and director of the mission with the elderly for over 30 years. Despite all the administrative tasks and the work needed to keep the mission going, the religious sister does not stop visiting guests during the day, helping them eat and complete their care routines. For her, developing an attentive attitude is essential. “The little things make a big difference in the life of the elderly. Many times, they can no longer talk, they are suffering, and they want a glass of water but cannot ask for it”, she said.

Basic actions like speaking, listening, seeing, and walking are at times compromised, and the guests are dependent on those who visit them. For Sister Denise, it is an opportunity to put the Gospel into practice. Amid physical suffering and the basic needs of care and attention, Sister Denise retains that love is the most important element when living with the elderly.

The sister highlighted that anyone “who has received love in life is calm and at peace in suffering”. On the other hand, for those who have not felt loved in life and are full of rebellion when they arrive at the home, she emphasized the importance of “a gesture of welcome” and of understanding their suffering.

This changes with age, she explained. “Giving love where there is no love truly transforms.”

The awareness that this stage of life is one of preparation for one’s meeting with God requires, beyond physical care, spiritual assistance. For the sisters, 93 years old Father Belmiro’s presence at the home is a sign of divine Providence.

“With so many surrounding communities, the parish priest would not be able to provide the assistance we have at our disposal here”, affirmed the Sister, referring to the priest who celebrates daily Mass and provides spiritual assistance to the other elderly residents, who makes himself available to hear confessions, give blessings, and administer the anointing of the sick, within his physical limits.

Turkiye – Earlier, on 28th November 2025, during his visit to Turkiye had visited a care home for the elderly run by the Little Sisters of the Poor just outside central Istanbul. The care home run by the Little Sisters of the Poor just outside central Istanbul is a home for the city’s elderly of every background: Turks, Armenians, refugees from a number of countries in Africa, and even a member of Istanbul’s historic Jewish population.

In a society obsessed with efficiency and material success, he warned, the true meaning of old age risks being forgotten. Yet, as Pope Francis often said, “the elderly are the wisdom of a people, a treasure for their grandchildren, families and society as a whole”. The Pope brought his speech to a close by offering a “double thank-you” to the home for welcoming the elderly”.

Italy – On 03rd October 2025, the Holy Father while addressing the Second International Congress on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly in Rome had reiterated: “The elderly are a gift, a blessing to be welcomed, and a longer life is something positive”, he said. “Indeed, it is one of the signs of hope in our time, everywhere in the world”.

Pope Leo said society’s rejection of the elderly stems from our unwillingness to admit that “the human being is always a limited creature with needs”, rather than fully self-sufficient.

“The fragility that appears in the elderly reminds us of this common truth. It is therefore hidden or removed by those who cultivate worldly illusions, so as not to have before their eyes the image of what we will inevitably become”.

Rather, noted the Pope, the elderly remind the young that, in the universal dynamic of life, humanity finds salvation in recognising our own need for God and one another.

“The measure of our humanity is not given by what we can achieve, but by our ability to let ourselves be loved and, when necessary, even helped”, he said. Old age can even catch us unprepared, said the Pope, inviting the elderly to learn from Scripture and the saints how to live in a Christian way, without letting ourselves give in to discouragement.

Team Maverick.