The Aging Pope urges the elderly to consider age a blessing WGN Radio 720

VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis on Tuesday urged older people to consider their aging a blessing, not a condemnation, as he himself tries to cope with a sore knee that makes walking almost impossible.

The 85-year-old Francis has included himself among the people he addressed in his second message before the World Day of Grandparents and the Elderly, which was published on Tuesday. He founded this day, which is celebrated in late July, to convince that older people should be considered a resource for the younger generations and not part of today’s “waste culture”.

In his message, Franciszek noted that old age is a time of life that even “those of us who are already experiencing” do not understand.

“Even though it eventually comes over time, no one prepares us for old age, and sometimes it seems like it takes us by surprise,” he wrote.

But he urged his seniors to accept their old age as a gift of longevity rather than complaining about the diminution of their strength and sense of worth.

“Along with old age and white hair, God continues to give us the gift of life and protects us from being overwhelmed by evil,” he said. “Aging is not a condemnation, but a blessing!”

For several months, Francis suffered from sprained ligaments in his right knee, and recently stated that he could no longer walk and had to rest as instructed by doctors.

Last week, he was first spotted in public in a wheelchair, raising questions about his ability to arrange for an upcoming trip in early July to Congo and South Sudan. Just this week, the Lebanese government confirmed that a planned visit next month was postponed due to Francis ’health condition.

Francis concluded his message by noting that the war had returned to Europe at a time when the generation that had survived the last war on the continent was dying out. He prayed that all the elderly would become “artisans of the revolution of tenderness, so that together we can free the world from the specter of loneliness and the demon of war.”