Pope Francis asked this Thursday that mothers-in-law are treated better and he urged them not to criticize, “be careful with your tongue” in a new catechesis dedicated to the elderly, during the general audience held in Saint Peter’s Square.
Francis today held a new audience in San Pedro before several thousand faithful whom he greeted from the popemobile during a tour between the various sectors of the square and appeared with visible problems when walking due to his knee problems, that have forced him to suspend some acts on his agenda.
In his catechesis, the pope explained that there are “commonplaces about family ties created by marriage, especially between mother-in-law and daughter-in-law” and asked to overcome “the most common prejudices”.
“Today the mother-in-law is a mythical character, I’m not saying we think they’re the devil, but they’re always said to be bad. But they are the mother of your husband, of your wife,” she recalled.
And he explained that “they are also mothers, they are older and one of the most beautiful things for grandmothers is to see their grandchildren. It is true that sometimes they are a little special, but they have given everything. At least make them happy, let them carry their old age happily.”
And to the mothers-in-law she exhorted: “To you, mothers-in-law, I say: be careful with your tongues. It’s one of the sins of mothers-in-law, the tongue.”
He also explained that “youth reveals itself capable of giving new enthusiasm to mature age” and that “old age is found capable of reopening the future for wounded youth” and in view of this he insisted on the importance of “an alliance of generations”.