The World Day of Persons with Disabilities is celebrated every December 3. Pope Francis sends a message on the same occasion.
This year the Pope asked to avoid the “culture of throwaway” and explained that the “Teaching of fragility” is a charism with which people with disabilities can enrich the Church ”
Below is the message from Pope Francis:
Dear brothers and sisters:
All of us, as the Apostle Paul would say, carry the treasure of life in clay vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4,7), and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities invites us to understand that our fragility in no way obfuscates the splendor of the “Gospel of the glory of Christ”, rather reveals “that this extraordinary power does not come from us, but from God” (2 Cor 4,4.7). Each of us, without merit or distinction, has been given the full Gospel and, with it, the joyful mission of announcing it. “We are all called to offer others the explicit testimony of the salvific love of the Lord, who beyond our imperfections offers us his closeness, his Word, his strength, and gives meaning to our lives” (Apostolic Exhortation Evangelii Gaudium, 121).
For this reason, communicating the Gospel is not a task reserved only for some, but is an essential need for anyone who has experienced the encounter and friendship with Jesus.[1]
Trust in the Lord, the experience of his tenderness, the consolation of his company are not privileges reserved for a few, nor are they the prerogatives of those who have received careful and prolonged training. On the contrary, his mercy makes itself known and found in a very particular way to those who do not trust themselves and feel the need to abandon themselves to the Lord and share with their brothers. It is about a wisdom that grows as awareness of one’s own limit increases, and that allows us to appreciate even more the decision of love of the Almighty to lower himself towards our weakness. It is an awareness that frees us from the sadness of complaint – even when there are reasons – and allows the heart to open up to praise.
The joy that fills the faces of those who encounter Jesus and trust him with their own existence is not an illusion or the fruit of naivety, but rather the irruption of the power of his Resurrection in a life marked by fragility. It is a true teaching of fragility that, if it were listened to, would make our societies more humane and fraternal, leading each one of us to understand that happiness is bread that cannot be eaten alone. How much the awareness of needing each other would help us to have less hostile relationships with those who are close to us! And the verification that the peoples cannot save themselves either, how much would it drive us to seek solutions for the senseless conflicts that we are experiencing!
Today we want to remember the suffering of all women and men with disabilities who live in war situations, or of those who are suffering from a disability due to the fighting. How many people – in Ukraine and in other war theaters – remain confined to the places where fighting is taking place and do not even have the chance to flee? It is necessary to give them special attention and facilitate their access to humanitarian aid by all means.
The magisterium of fragility is a charism with which you -sisters and brothers with disabilities- can enrich the Church. Your presence “can help transform the realities in which we live, making them more humane and welcoming. Without vulnerability, without limits, without obstacles to overcome, there would be no true humanity.
That is why I am glad that the synodal path is being a propitious occasion for your voice to finally be heard, and that the echo of that participation has reached the preparatory document for the continental stage of the Synod. In it it is stated: «Many syntheses point out the lack of adequate structures and ways to accompany people with disabilities and call for new ways to welcome their contributions and promote their participation. Despite her own teachings, the Church is in danger of imitating the way in which society neglects these people. The listed forms of discrimination —the lack of listening, the violation of the right to choose where and with whom to live, the denial of the sacraments, the accusation of witchcraft, abuse— and others, describe the culture of discarding in relation to people with disabilities. They do not arise by chance, but have the same root in common: the idea that the lives of people with disabilities are worth less than that of others».[3]
The Synod, with its invitation to walk together and listen to each other, helps us above all to understand how in the Church —also with regard to disability— there is not a us and a them, but a single we, with Jesus Christ in the center, where each one has their own gifts and their own limits. This awareness, founded on the fact that we are all part of the same vulnerable humanity assumed and sanctified by Christ, eliminates any arbitrary distinction and opens the doors to the participation of each baptized person in the life of the Church. But, even more, where the Synod has been truly inclusive, it has made it possible to break down entrenched prejudices. It is, in effect, the encounter and the fraternity that break down the walls of misunderstanding and overcome discrimination;
Whether it is a condition that concerns us, not them, is discovered when the disability, temporarily or through the natural aging process, affects ourselves or one of our loved ones. In this situation, we begin to look at reality with new eyes, and we realize the need to also break down those barriers that previously seemed insignificant. However, all this does not affect the certainty that any condition of disability -temporary, acquired or permanent- does not in any way modify our nature as children of the only Father or alter our dignity. The Lord loves us all with the same tender, fatherly, and unconditional love.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for the initiatives with which you animate this International Day of Persons with Disabilities, whom I accompany with my prayers. I bless all of you from my heart and I ask you, please, to pray for me.