Pope Francis said that a person’s value is not dependent on one’s abilities. The Pope said this in a meeting with disabled children and their caregivers at the Vatican on Monday.
“Every human person is precious and has a value that does not depend on what they have or on their abilities, but on the simple fact that he or she is a person, the image of God,” Pope Francis said in Paul VI Hall on 13 December.
“If disability or illness makes life more difficult, it is no less worthy of being loved and lived to the fullest.”
Meeting the members of the Seraphic Institute of Assisi, the Pope underlined that it is “important to look at a disabled person as one of us.”
Pope Francis said that the disabled must be “at the center of our care and concern, and also at the center of … politics.”
In caring for those with disabilities, one receives as much as one gives, he said, describing the relationship as “an exchange of gifts.”
“We Christians find in the Gospel of love — I’m thinking of the parable of the Good Samaritan — one more reason for this. But the principle applies to everyone, inscribed as it is in our conscience, which makes us aware of our unity with all human beings,” the Pope said.
The Seraphic Institute of Assisi is a non-profit Catholic organization that provides social and clinical assistance to children and young adults with physical, mental, and sensory disabilities.