Francis: “Do not exclude people with disabilities”

Celebrated on December 3 every year around the world since 1992, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities aims to promote the rights and well-being of people with disabilities. Expressing his joy at meeting people with disabilities on December 3, Pope Francis first of all thanked Bishop Giuseppe Baturi of the Archdiocese of Cagliari for “the commitment of the Churches in Italy to keep alive the attention to people with disabilities, with an active and inclusive pastoral action“says Francois.

For the Pope, welcoming people with disabilities and responding to their needs is a duty of the civil and ecclesial community, because the human person, “even wounded in his mind or in his sensory and intellectual capacities, is a fully human subject, with the sacred and inalienable rights proper to all human creatures“.

A gaze of love from the Lord for the excluded

A “look of tenderness and mercy especially for those who were excluded from the attention of the powerful and even of the religious authorities of his timeas a sign of the Lord’s love for the people he met. Therefore, the Pope points out,whenever the Christian community transforms indifference into closeness and exclusion into belonging, it fulfills its prophetic mission“.

Respond more to the needs of the disabled

Regarding the situation of people with disabilities, Pope Francis suggests making more efforts to meet their existential needs, in their different dimensions: bodily, psychic, social and spiritual. “Every man and every woman, whatever their condition, is the bearer not only of rights which must be recognized and guaranteed. he declares, “but also of even deeper needs, such as the need to belong, to relate and to cultivate the spiritual life, until experiencing its fullness and blessing the Lord for this unique and wonderful gift“.

Promote a spirituality of communion

“It is a duty to guarantee people with disabilities access to buildings and meeting places, to make languages ​​accessible and to overcome physical barriers and prejudicesnotes the Holy Father, emphasizing, however, that “It’s not enough“. Pope Francis invites us to promote “a spirituality of communion, so that each person feels part of a body, with their own unique personality“. “Only in this way will each person, with their limitations and their gifts, feel encouraged to do their part for the good of the whole ecclesial body and of society.“, he continues.

Inclusion is a goal of pastoral action

On this day dedicated to people with disabilities, the Sovereign Pontiff wishes that all Christian communities be “places where belonging and inclusion do not remain words to be spoken on certain occasions“, but become “an objective of ordinary pastoral action“. Thus “we can be credible when we proclaim that the Lord loves everyone, that he is salvation for all and that he invites everyone to the table of life, no one being excludedassures the Pope.

Sometimes tempted to take the path of exclusion, François recalls that “the Church is the home of everyone, the heart of the Christian is the home of everyone, without exception”. “Everyone, everyone. Inclusion“, he insisted.

Faced with these moments of wars and other crises that the world is going through, the Pope affirms in conclusion: “your testimony is a concrete sign of peace, a sign of hope for a more human and more fraternal world, for everyone. Go forward on this path!“.