World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly 2026

Pope Leo XIV's message for the 2026 World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly centers on the theme "I will never forget you" (Isaiah 49:15). The Pope reassures older adults that their faces are engraved on the palms of God's hands and urges society and youth to combat the loneliness and marginalization of the elderly through attentive encounters and kind words. [1]

 

Pope Francis inaugurated the first World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly in 2021 and decreed that it be observed each year on the Sunday closest to the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, Jesus’ grandparents.