Vatican seeks elder care rethink after COVID-19 'massacre'
The Vatican is calling for a new paradigm of care for the elderly after what it calls the “massacre” wrought by the coronavirus pandemic
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The Vatican is calling for a new paradigm of care for the elderly after what it calls the “massacre” wrought by the coronavirus pandemic which has disproportionately killed elderly people living in nursing homes
The Vatican’s Pontifical Council of Life issued a position paper Tuesday that made the case for a global rethink of how to care for people in their final years, including resisting any rush to institutional care in favor of adapting home environments to the needs of people as they age.
The council's president, Archbishop Vincenzo Paglia, noted at a press conference that more than half of Italy’s elderly dead during the initial coronavirus outbreak lived in nursing homes, while only a quarter of overall deaths involving people over 75 lived at home.
“The death tolls are brutal in their cruelty,” Paglia said. “A real massacre of the elderly.”
Pope Francis has frequently spoken about the wisdom and richness that the elderly provide younger generations and denounced how they are often shut away in institutions. That tendency, he says, is part of what he calls today's “throwaway culture” that treats the elderly, weak and infirm as nonessential.
The 84-year-old Francis, who credits his grandmother Rosa with helping raise him and passing onto him her Catholic faith, recently designated the fourth Sunday of July as the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly.