Even though old age can weaken the body, Pope Francis said, it can also sharpen a person’s connection to God.

“Does the transmission of faith—and of the meaning of life—follow this path today, of listening to the elderly?” Pope Francis asked in his general audience.

The elderly “will be the ones to sound the alarm, the alert: ‘Be aware, this is corruption, it will bring you nothing,’” Pope Francis said during his general audience on March 16.

“Lord Jesus, born under the bombs of Kyiv, have mercy on us. Lord Jesus, dead in the arms of a mother in Kharkiv, have mercy on us.”

"Dear brothers and sisters, may our holy father Ignatius help us to preserve discernment, our precious legacy, as an ever timely treasure to be poured out on the Church and on the world."

“The rhythms of old age are an indispensable resource for grasping the meaning of life marked by time,” Pope Francis said in his general audience, and so spending time with our elders is not just a “waste of time.”

In his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis spoke against a “culture of waste” that relegates the elderly to the sidelines and discourages young people from learning the wisdom of older generations.

“To be a Christian is not only to receive the faith, to confess the faith, but to safeguard life, one’s own life, the life of others, the life of the Church,” Pope Francis said in his Wednesday audience.

“Life is a right, not death, which must be welcomed, not administered,” Pope Francis said during his weekly audience. “And this ethical principle applies to, concerns everyone, not just Christians or believers.”

In his Wednesday audience, Pope Francis spoke about the communion of saints, which he said does not include just those who are perfect, but also “the community of saved sinners.”