Blessed are those who have not lost hope

Celebrating the 5th World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly – Sunday, July 27, 2025

Each year, on the Sunday closest to the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne—Jesus’ grandparents—the Church celebrates the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly. This year, the celebration falls on Sunday, July 27, and the theme is:
“Blessed are those who have not lost hope” (cf. Sir 14:2).

This gentle yet powerful verse from Sirach reminds us that those who continue to place their trust in the Lord, especially in their later years, are a true blessing among us. In this Jubilee Year, the day invites us to recognize grandparents and the elderly as living signs of hope within our families and parishes.

While the world often moves too fast to notice them, the Church reminds us: our elders matter deeply. Their witness, wisdom, and quiet perseverance are treasures we need.

• CCCB Resources for World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly
• Suggestions for the Universal Prayer
• Blessing for Grandparents and the Elderly prayer
• Prayer to St. Anne and St. Joachim
• Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life Pastoral Toolkit

Simple ways to celebrate

Here are a few heartfelt ways your parish or family can mark this day:

In your parish:

• Celebrate a Mass of Thanksgiving that highlights the role of grandparents and elders. Invite them to participate visibly in the liturgy.
• Create a Parish Book of Remembrance with the names of grandparents and elderly loved ones who have passed away. Bring it to the altar during Mass.
• Host a Holy Hour or Novena the day before to pray for the elderly in your parish and around the world.
• Plant a tree in honour of all the grandparents who have shaped your community.
• Children's Prayer Appeal: We invite children in schools or parish to compose prayers in honour of their Grandparents. These are presented at the Offertory during Pilgrimage Masses.
• Offer a small token like a prayer card, medal, or forget-me-not flower in appreciation of their presence. ​
• Starting a Ministry for Grandparents in your parish. Why not contact us to find out about starting a Ministry for Grandparents in your parish. You could launch it on the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly!
  
  

In your home:

• Call or visit an elderly loved one or someone who may not receive many visitors.
• Share a meal or story with grandparents. Let them pass on a favourite memory or piece of wisdom.
• Pray together for the elderly who are alone, sick, or grieving.
  • Send or give a Grandparent or Elderly person a "Spiritual Bouquet"
    ​A Spiritual Bouquet can be a card, homemade or store-bought letting a person know what prayers or sacrifices have been offered up for them. Examples to be included in a Spiritual Bouquet:
    • A certain number of a specific prayer – 10 Hail Mary’s 
    • A Novena, Mass, or Rosary
    • Good deeds or sacrifices, for example: shop for a person in need, fast for a meal, or skip the dessert.

Plenary Indulgence
A plenary indulgence is granted to those who attend the Sunday Mass (July 27), or who dedicate time to visit an elderly person in need, in person or virtually. 

• Usual conditions apply: sacramental confession, Holy Communion, prayer for the Holy Father’s intentions, and detachment from sin.
• Pope Leo's July prayer intention: Let us pray that we might again learn how to discern, to know how to choose paths of life and reject everything that leads us away from Christ and the Gospel.

Those who are elderly, sick, or homebound may also receive the indulgence by uniting spiritually through prayer and offering their suffering to God.
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What Pope Francis wants us to remember
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Pope Francis reminds us in his Catechesis on Old Age, that “old age is a gift for all stages of life. It is a gift of maturity, of wisdom.” 
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“Everything beautiful that a society has is related to the roots of the elderly... I would like the figure of the elderly to be highlighted, so that it be well understood that the elderly are not  throwaway material: they are a blessing for society."

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Sources: Catholic Grandparents Associations; Dicastery for Laity Family and Life.