ROME — Pope Francis warned Wednesday the pursuit of “eternal youth” is a dangerous pipe dream that prevents people from focusing on things that really matter.

“The conceit of stopping time – of wanting eternal youth, unlimited wellbeing, absolute power – is not only impossible, it is delusional,” the pontiff told crowds gathered in the Vatican for his weekly General Audience.

On the contrary, embracing the passage of time with nobility, grace, and gratitude is the path to true wisdom, the pope proposed, and allows people to learn what life is really about.

“An old age that is consumed in the dejection of missed opportunities brings despondency to oneself and to others,” he declared. On the other hand, “old age lived with gentleness, lived with respect for real life,” brings wisdom.

“Our life is not made to be wrapped up in itself, in an imaginary earthly perfection: it is destined to go beyond, through the passage of death – because death is a passage,” he asserted. “Indeed, our stable place, our destination is not here, it is beside the Lord, where he dwells forever.”

Pope Francis is in a wheelchair. As part of his six-day trip to Canada, Pope Francis plans to celebrate Mass at the National Shrine in Quebec City and meet church representatives. (Johannes Neudecker/Picture Alliance via Getty Images)

Our time on earth is, in fact, an “apprenticeship” for eternity, he said.

“Our existence on earth is the time of the initiation of life: it is life, but one that leads you towards a fuller life, the initiation of the fuller one; a life which finds fulfilment only in God,” he stated, and “old age brings closer the hope of this fulfilment.”

“Old age knows definitively, by now, the meaning of time and the limitations of the place in which we live our initiation. This is why old age is wise: the elderly are wise for this reason,” he said.

To live life well, humans should not lament the passing of time but should “rejoice” in its, he insisted.

“Old age is noble, it does not need to beautify itself to show its nobility. Perhaps the disguise comes when nobility is lacking,” he said.

In conclusion, Francis said that old age “is the phase in life most suited to spreading the joyful news that life is the initiation to a final fulfilment.”

“The elderly are a promise, a witness of promise. And the best is yet to come,” he declared.