By Kristina Millare
Vatican City, Dec 17, 2024 / 09:20 am
Pope Francis, who celebrates his 88th birthday today, has become one of the oldest-serving popes in the Catholic Church’s 2,000-year history.
Having instituted the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly in 2019, the Holy Father is keeping true to his inaugural message dedicated to older Catholics: “There is no retirement age from the work of proclaiming the Gospel.”
Just this past Sunday, Dec. 15, he completed his 47th apostolic journey to the French region of Corsica to spend a full day with the Catholic faithful and take part in their cultural and pious traditions.
In the wake of the opening of the Jubilee Year of Hope on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, the pope has not put a pause in his work schedule.
In December alone, Pope Francis has met with country leaders, dicastery prefects, and even smaller delegations of Catholic communities who have come to visit him in the Vatican.
According to Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, OFM, the pope makes the effort to call the Holy Family Church in Gaza every evening and has become “the grandfather for the children” of the parish who eagerly await his 7 p.m. call.
“Think about it: What is our vocation today, at our age?” the pope asked grandparents and elderly in his 2019 message for the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly.
The answer? “To preserve our roots, to pass on the faith to the young, and to care for the little ones.
