¹ United Nations, World Population Ageing (New York: United Nations Publications, 2007)Google Scholar.

² Government Office for Science The Future of an Ageing Population (2016) Obtainable from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/535187/gs-16-10-future-of-an-ageing-population.pdf.

³ As life expectancy has increased, traditional definitions of old age have become problematic. Most analyses now distinguish between the ‘active’ old, understood as largely autonomous and characterised by general good health, and the ‘frail-old’, ‘very-old’ or ‘old-old’, for whom increasing support is needed with daily living and health care. The distinction is convenient for some purposes, such as planning future care needs. But it needs to be treated with caution as the notional boundary is set variously at 80, 85 or 90 and functional definitions vary widely.

⁴ Timmins, N (2017) The Five Giants: a biography of the welfare state (New Edition. London: Collins, 2017)Google Scholar.

⁵ The Future of an Ageing Population.

⁶ Pontifical Council for the Laity, The Dignity of Older People and their Mission in the Church and in the World (Strathfield, St Pauls Publications, 1998).

⁷ Boileau, D. Principles of Catholic Social Teaching (Milwaukee: Marquette University Press 1998) pp. 12-14Google Scholar.

⁸ Paragraphs are not numbered in the original document, but have been numbered here for ease of reference.

⁹ The section continues, “But there are others—more numerous in our own day—to whom old age is a traumatic experience, and who react to their own ageing with attitudes ranging from passive resignation to rebellion, rejection and despair. They are persons who become locked into themselves and self-marginalized, thus accelerating the process of their own physical and mental deterioration.”(11)

¹⁰ For example, the number of people over 75 living alone in the UK has increased from 1.31m to 2.21m (Office for National Statistics 2012, 2017) which must surely influence our understanding of ‘solidarity’.

¹¹ “The problems of the elderly today differ considerably from those with which they had to contend in the past. There is, firstly, the fact that the numbers of old people have been steadily increasing . . . Then there are certain factors proper to the modern industrial society, the principal being the alteration in the pattern of the family . . . Further, it is often isolated and unstable, sometimes even broken up. . . and to these may be added in our times the (sometimes immoderate) search for comforts and tendency towards consumerism. In this kind of context, the elderly, often enough, finish by becoming an encumbrance.” (Pope John Paul II, Message for the 16^th World Communications Day, 10^th May 1982).

¹² Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Exhortation Familiaris Consortio 1981, 27.

¹³ “. . . you are not and must not consider yourselves to be on the margins of the life of the Church . . . but active subject in human existence which is rich in spirituality and humanity. You still have a mission to fulfil and a contribution to make” (Pope John Paul II, audience 23 March 1984 cited in DOP (7)).

¹⁴ “I now address older people, oftentimes unjustly considered as unproductive, if not directly an insupportable burden. I remind older people that the Church calls and expects them to continue to exercise their mission in the apostolic and missionary life. This is not only a possibility for them, but it is their duty even in this time in their life when age itself provides opportunities in some specific and basic way.” Pope John Paul II, Christefideles Laici 1988, 17. See also Pope John Paul II, Letter to the Elderly Obtainable from http://w2.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/letters/1999/documents/hf_jp-ii_let_01101999_elderly.html 1999.

¹⁵ Pope John Paul II, Letter to the President of the Second World Assembly on Ageing 2002.

¹⁶ Faith Survey Catholics in England and Wales Obtainable from https://faithsurvey.co.uk/catholics-england-and-wales.html (2018).

¹⁷ Pope Benedict XVI Visit To The Community Of Sant'egidio's Home For The Elderly “Viva Gli Anziani” Rome Monday, 12 November 2012.

¹⁸ Pope Francis Meeting of the Pope with the elderly. Address of Pope Francis, Saint Peter's Square, Sunday, 28 September 2014.

¹⁹ Ibid.

²⁰ “It's brutal to see how the elderly are thrown away, it is a brutal thing, it is a sin! No one dares to say it openly, but it's done! There is something vile in this adherence to the throw-away culture. But we are accustomed to throwing people away. We want to remove our growing fear of weakness and vulnerability; but by doing so we increase in the elderly the anxiety of being poorly tolerated and neglected. . . ” Pope Francis, General Audience, Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 4 March 2015.

²¹ “[T]here is a wealth of wisdom that has always supported a culture of closeness to the elderly, a disposition of warm and supportive companionship in this final phase of life . . . The Church cannot and does not want to conform to a mentality of impatience, and much less of indifference and contempt, towards old age. We must reawaken the collective sense of gratitude, of appreciation, of hospitality, which makes the elder feel like a living part of his community.” Ibid.

²² Ibid.

²³ Pope Francis General Audience Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 11 March 2015.

²⁴ Ibid.

²⁵ Pope Francis Homily Pauline Chapel, Tuesday, 27 June 2017.

²⁶ Pope Francis Visit to St Mary's Pro-Cathedral Dublin Saturday, 25 August 2018.

²⁷ “The culture of relativism is the same disorder which drives one person to take advantage of another, to treat others as mere objects, imposing forced labour on them or enslaving them to pay their debts. The same kind of thinking leads to the sexual exploitation of children and abandonment of the elderly who no longer serve our interests . . . This same “use and throw away” logic generates so much waste, because of the disordered desire to consume more than what is really necessary. . .” (LS123).

²⁸ “. . . there is a need to incorporate the history, culture and architecture of each place, thus preserving its original identity . . . for greater attention to local cultures when studying environmental problems, favouring a dialogue between scientific-technical language and the language of the people. Culture is more than what we have inherited from the past; it is also, and above all, a living, dynamic and participatory present reality, which cannot be excluded as we rethink the relationship between human beings and the environment.” (143) “ . . . the development of a social group presupposes an historical process which takes place within a cultural context and demands the constant and active involvement of local people from within their proper culture.” (144).

²⁹ Pope Francis General Audience Saint Peter's Square Wednesday, 4 March 2015 2015.

³⁰ Higgs, P and Gilleard, C. Rethinking Old Age: Theorising the Fourth Age (London: Palgrave 2015)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.