3rd World Day of Grandparents and Elderly

The theme chosen by the Holy Father is “His mercy is from age to age”.

His mercy extends from age to age" (Lk 1, 50): this is the theme of the Third World Day of Grandparents and Elderly Persons, which will be celebrated on Sunday July 23, 2023, indicates a press release from the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life published this Thursday, April 13.

On the occasion of this Day, Pope Francis "will preside over a Eucharistic liturgy in St. Peter's Basilica and invites parishes, dioceses, associations and ecclesial communities around the world to celebrate this Day in their own pastoral context".

The press release specifies that the theme of the Day – chosen by Pope Francis – “expresses well the link with the World Youth Days which will be held a few days later in Lisbon (August 1-6, 2023)”.

The WYD theme – “Mary arose and went in haste” (Lk 1:39) – “in fact shows us the young Mary who goes to her elderly cousin Elizabeth and proclaims loud and clear, in the Magnificat, the strength of the alliance between the young and the old.

Let us recall that it was during the Angelus of January 31, 2021 that Pope Francis announced the institution of the World Day of Grandparents and Older Persons: "Grandparents are very often forgotten and we forget this wealth to protect the roots and to transmit", he had lamented. The Pope decided that this Day would be celebrated "every year, throughout the Church, on the fourth Sunday of July, towards the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the 'grandparents' of Jesus"