In reflecting on the beauty and exaltedness of old age, the Pope commented on the idea of reincarnation, saying that to be reincarnated would empty our current life of its meaning.
The Pope's teachings at the Wednesday general audiences have been on old age, drawing from Biblical teachings or characters.
On June 8, he spoke about the famous conversation of Nicodemus with Jesus about being born again.
Jesus' assertion that we must be born again doesn't mean "repeating our coming into the world, hoping that a new reincarnation will open up the chance of having a better life," the Pope said.
Repeating life "makes no sense" and "would, rather, empty all meaning out of the life we have lived, erasing it as if it were a failed experiment, a value that has expired, a wasted void."
Our life is "precious in God's eyes," Pope Francis added. "It identifies us as beings who are loved tenderly by God."
