The Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations
emphasized the dignity of the elderly during an address to the UN’s Open-Ended Working Group on Ageing.Noting that the number of persons 60 or over are projected to double to 2.1 billion by 2050, Archbishop Bernardito Auza said that “we must recognize that dignity does not disappear with age or with a decrease in market productivity.”
“It is crucial to promote values and systems of education that propose an alternative approach to the ‘throw-away culture’ of which Pope Francis speaks, which judges each human being simply by their purported usefulness,” he added, as he described the elderly as “an essential point of reference at a time when many are struggling to find their identity and are uncertain of the future.”
References: