London - Pope Francis has condemned the practice of leaving the elderly in care homes as a form of “hidden euthanasia”.
At a special mass in Rome to honour grandparents, the Pope praised the value of the older generation to society.
He stressed the importance of taking care of the elderly properly and warned of a “poisonous” culture in which they are effectively abandoned in institutions where they may suffer neglect and loneliness.
The 77-year-old told the crowd at St Peter’s Basilica that this culture “hurts our world” and said a society that does not care for grandparents “has no future”.
“How many times we discard older people with attitudes that are akin to a hidden form of euthanasia,” he added.
The Pope recognised that residential homes can be necessary for those who have no family to care for them, but said they must truly be “homes, not prisons” and must serve the interests and needs of the residents.
“There must never be institutions where the elderly are forgotten, hidden or neglected,” he said.
Describing old age as “a time of grace”, Francis reminded the congregation that grandparents have a lot of wisdom to pass down to the next generation.
He said a grandfather is in a way “twice a father” and a grandmother “twice a mother”, adding: “Blessed are those families who have grandparents nearby.”
Former pope Benedict XVI, dressed in papal whites, made a rare public appearance at the meeting, although he left before the public mass.
Francis embraced him twice and took the opportunity to express his admiration for his predecessor, saying that he was “very happy to have him living in the Vatican as it was like having a wise old granddad in the house”.
He has previously admitted that he continues to asks Benedict for advice. On the way back from his visit to South Korea in August, Francis told journalists: “We see each other. I went to find him before this trip. He wrote to me two weeks ago asking my opinion about a paper he had written. He encourages me.” - Daily Mail