Pope to persons with disabilities: “The Church
is truly your home"
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The Vatican on Thursday released the message of Pope
Francis for the UN's International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3
December.
By Robin Gomes
Pope Francis assures people with disabilities that the
Church is truly their home, saying the Church is a community of imperfect
people and sinners who are in need of God’s forgiveness. The Pope expresses the
Church’s closeness to them in a message on the occasion of the United Nations
International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 3 December
The UN General Assembly proclaimed the annual
observance in 1992, to promote the rights and well-being of persons with
disabilities in all spheres of society and development, and to increase
awareness of the situation of persons with disabilities in every aspect of
political, social, economic, and cultural life.
Friends of
Jesus
The Pope’s message, released by the Vatican at a press
conference on Thursday, has as its theme, “You are my friends” (Jn 15:14). “We
are called to be friends of Jesus,” the Pope says, adding that this can serve
as the spiritual key to accepting the limitations that all of us have, and thus
to be at peace with them. This in turn can lead to a joy that “fills hearts and
lives.”
“The Church is truly your home!” the Pope assures
people with disabilities. “We, all of us together, are Church, because Jesus
chose to be our friend . . . Everyone has a part to play; no one is a mere
extra.” Hence, “each of you,” he says, “is also called to make his or her own
contribution to the synodal journey” in “a participative and inclusive
ecclesial process.”
Prejudices
Unfortunately, the Holy Father points out, even today
many people with disabilities “are treated as foreign bodies in society.” He
says, “You can feel that [you] exist without belonging and without
participating,” and that “much still prevents [you] from being fully
enfranchised.” “Discrimination,” he notes, “continues to be all too present at
various levels of society; it feeds on prejudice, ignorance, and a culture that
finds it hard to appreciate the inestimable value of each person."
“The continuing tendency to regard disabilities as a
kind of disease,” he laments, “contributes to keeping lives separate and
stigmatizing you.”
Discrimination
in the Church
In the Church, the Pontiff says, “the worst form of
discrimination . . . is the lack of spiritual care” which is sometimes
experienced in the form of denying access to the sacraments to those with disabilities.
In this regard, the Pope stresses the Church’s
teaching that “no one can deny the sacraments to persons with disabilities” —
for Jesus does not call us servants, women and men of lesser dignity, but
friends: confidants worthy of knowing all that He has received from the Father.
The pandemic
Pope Francis further says that Jesus’ friendship
protects us in moments of difficulty, such as during the Covid-19 pandemic,
which has had grave repercussions for many disabled persons. Many of them were
forced to stay at home for long periods of time; many students with
disabilities had difficulties in accessing aids to distance learning; the
lengthy interruption of social care services; and other hardships.
Those who had been confined to residential facilities
were particularly hit by the virus, with many lives lost. “Know that the Pope
and the Church are especially close to you, with love and affection!" Pope
Francis says.
"The Church stands beside those of you who are
still struggling with the Coronavirus,” the Pope assures persons with
disabilities.
He points out that the Church always “insists that
everyone be provided with treatment, and that disabilities not prevent access
to the best care available.” In this regard, the Holy Father commends the
bishops’ conferences of the United States and of England and Wales, which have
demanded respect for the right of everyone, without discrimination, to medical
care.
Friendship – a
call to holiness
Explaining further the friendship with Jesus, the Pope
says the Lord wants us to be happy. “He wants us to be saints and not to settle
for a bland and mediocre existence.” Speaking about the universal call to
holiness, the Second Vatican Council teaches that “all the faithful of Christ
of whatever rank or status, are called to the fullness of the Christian life
and to the perfection of charity.” "They must devote themselves to the
glory of God and the service of their neighbour”. In this regard, the Holy Father notes that whenever
persons with disabilities met Jesus, their lives changed profoundly and they
became His witnesses, as in the case of the man born blind in John’s
Gospel.
Call to prayer
Addressing each one of the disabled persons, Pope
Francis urges them to pray, assuring them that the Lord listens attentively to
the prayers of those who trust in Him. “Prayer is a mission, a mission
accessible to everyone, and I would like to entrust that mission in a
particular way to you. There is no one so frail that he or she cannot pray,
worship the Lord, give glory to His holy Name, and intercede for the salvation
of the world."
In conclusion, Pope Francis reminds all that the
pandemic has clearly shown us that we are all weak and vulnerable; we are all
in the same boat, fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and
needed; all of us are called to row together. And the “primary way to do so is
precisely by praying”.
The UN and the
disabled
According to the UN, over a billion people in the
world, or 1 in 7, have some form of disability. Of these, more than 100
million are children, who are almost four times more likely to experience
violence than non-disabled children. Eighty per cent of the world’s people with
disabilities live in a developing country and 50% of them cannot afford health
care. Of the 169 targets of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the
2030 Agenda, 7 explicitly refer to persons with disabilities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres also delivered a
message ahead of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, urging the
international community “to build a sustainable, inclusive and just future for
everyone, leaving no one behind”. “I urge all countries to fully
implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, increase
accessibility, and dismantle legal, social, economic and other barriers with
the active involvement of persons with disabilities and their representative
organizations,” he said. 182 countries have ratified the 2006 Convention.
Vatican News
