Cardinal Parolin, in papal letter, reflects on the elderly’s ‘magisterium of frailty’

June 11, 2026

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, wrote a letter in Pope Leo’s name to participants in a Vatican study day on pastoral care of the elderly.

The theme of the study day, organized by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, was “A Bridge Towards Heaven: The Magisterium of Fragility in a Time of Strength.”

Cardinal Parolin wrote that old age is

a time of grace, to be lived in prayer, in service, in tenderness, in memory preserved and passed on: a blessing for generations to come. This makes fragility a theological reality, in the words of Saint Paul: ‘God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong […] therefore, as it is written, Let him who boasts, boast of the Lord’“ (1 Cor 1:27, 31).

“The society in which we live is dominated by the logic of performance and competition, so that strength is is conceived as a display of power and tends to degenerate into abuse of power,” Cardinal Parolin added. “Faced with these attitudes, the Church continues to propose the Gospel message: that which proclaims blessed the meek and humble of heart (cf. Mt 5:5; 11:29), and which promotes an unarmed and disarming peace, recognizing in God the Father of all and in others not enemies, but brothers and sisters. The elderly members of our communities are, through their life experience and wisdom, the first and most authoritative witnesses to this Christian vision of humanity.”

The letter, written June 5, was made public on June 10, the date on which the study day was held.

 

---

For all current news, visit our News home page.

---

 
Further information:

• Letter from the Holy Father, signed by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, to His Eminence Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell on the occasion of the meeting on the Pastoral Care of the Elderly
• A Bridge Towards Heaven: The Magisterium of Fragility in a Time of Strength (Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, 6/5/26)