De Junno Arocho Esteves
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The coexistence of older and younger generations can lead to a better appreciation of life, which is often lost in today’s fast-paced society, Pope Francis said.

In the modern world, there is a ubiquitous “spirit of rejection” that “tends to be hostile to the elderly and, not coincidentally, to children,” and “sets them aside,” the pontiff said on March 2 during the weekly general audience.
“Speeding puts us in a centrifuge that sweeps us like confetti,” he said. “He completely loses sight of the big picture” and, instead, is troubled by an attitude dictated by market forces “for which the slower pace means losses and speed means money”.
The pontiff continued his new series of discussions dedicated to the meaning and value of old age and reflected on the theme “Longevity: symbol and opportunity”.
The long life of the patriarchs recorded in the Bible, he said, “gives a strong, very strong symbolic meaning to the relationship between longevity and genealogy.”
The Bible, he said, describes how “mutual support between generations is essential to deciphering experiences and facing life’s puzzles.”
Young people need to talk to the old and the old #old with the young. And this bridge will be the transmission of wisdom in mankind, because the old are like the roots of the tree, and the young are like flowers and fruits. #BlessingOfTheTimes #General Audience
– Pope Francis (@Pontifex) February 23, 2022
However, today, “speeding, which now haunts every stage of our lives, makes every experience more superficial and less nutritious.”
“Young people are the unconscious victims of this division between the time on the clock, which must be hastened, and the times of life that require proper ‘fermentation,'” he said. A long life gives a person time to appreciate the time-consuming processes and see the “rush damage.”

For this reason, the pontiff continued, the “slower pace” of old age helps young people and adults to discover the true meaning of life and “makes everyone’s existence richer in humanity.”
“There is a need for intergenerational dialogue,” he said. “If there is no dialogue between young and old, if there is no dialogue, each generation will remain isolated.”
A young man “who is not attached to his roots, who is his grandparents, does not receive the power, like the tree, the power of the roots and grows poorly, grows ill, grows without reference points. ,” he said.
Longer life expectancy today, he said, should be welcomed as an opportunity to rebuild the covenant between young and old and to help everyone understand the “meaning of life as a whole.”
“The meaning of life is everything, from birth to death, and you should be able to interact with everyone and also have emotional relationships with everyone so that your maturity is richer and stronger,” he said. Holy Father.