At this weekly public audience on June 1, Pope Francis called for recognition of a “magisterium of frailty” in the elderly, thought which “old age is able to remind us in a credible way of the whole span of human life.”

The Pontiff insisted that the elderly must be respected, even as they lose their strength, “when the memory of labors overcome and blessings received is put to the test.” He decried the exploitation of the elderly, saying that “shame should fall on those who take advantage of the weakness of illness and old age.”