Pope Francis said Wednesday that it is “delusional” to try to stop the natural passage of time in pursuit of “eternal youth” and “unlimited wellbeing.” Speaking at his live-streamed general audience on Aug. 10, the pope pointed out that from the Christian perspective, the passing of time “is not a threat, it is a promise.” “The conceit of stopping time of wanting eternal youth, unlimited wellbeing, absolute power is not only impossible, it is delusional,” Pope Francis said in Vatican City’s Paul VI Hall. “Our existence on earth is the time of the initiation of life; it is life, but one that leads you toward a fuller life … a life which finds fulfillment only in God.” The pope underlined that life on earth is best understood as a “novitiate,” a preparation for an eternal life in heaven that will be “superior to the time of our mortal life.”
“We are apprentices of life, who amid a thousand difficulties learn to appreciate God’s gift, honoring the responsibility of sharing it and making it bear fruit for everyone,” he said. “We are imperfect from the very beginning, and we remain imperfect up to the end,” Francis added. He explained that life is not meant to “be wrapped up in itself in an imaginary earthly perfection.” Life “is destined to go beyond, through the passage of death because death is a passage. Indeed, … our destination is not here, it is beside the Lord, where he dwells forever,” the pope said. With this reflection, Pope Francis concluded a cycle of catechesis on old age that he began in February.
