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Pope Francis’s Message for international day of persons with disabilities – 3 December 2022
“The Gospel is for everyone”
2Co 3:17 Now this Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.
2Co 3:18 And all of us, with our unveiled faces like mirrors reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the image that we reflect in brighter and brighter glory; this is the working of the Lord who is the Spirit.
2Co 4:1 Such by God’s mercy is our ministry, and therefore we do not waver
2Co 4:2 but have renounced all shameful secrecy. It is not our way to be devious, or to falsify the word of God; instead, in God’s sight we commend ourselves to every human being with a conscience by showing the truth openly.
2Co 4:3 If our gospel seems to be veiled at all, it is so to those who are on the way to destruction,
2Co 4:4 the unbelievers whose minds have been blinded by the god of this world, so that they cannot see shining the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2Co 4:5 It is not ourselves that we are proclaiming, but Christ Jesus as the Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake.
2Co 4:6 It is God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ that has shone into our hearts to enlighten them with the knowledge of God’s glory, the glory on the face of Christ.
2Co 4:7 But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own.
2Co 4:8 We are subjected to every kind of hardship, but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair;
2Co 4:9 we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us;
2Co 4:10 always we carry with us in our body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our body.
2Co 4:11 Indeed, while we are still alive, we are continually being handed over to death, for the sake of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus, too, may be visible in our mortal flesh.
2Co 4:12 In us, then, death is at work; in you, life.
2Co 4:13 But as we have the same spirit of faith as is described in scripture — I believed and therefore I spoke -we, too, believe and therefore we, too, speak,
2Co 4:14 realising that he who raised up the Lord Jesus will raise us up with Jesus in our turn, and bring us to himself — and you as well.
2Co 4:15 You see, everything is for your benefit, so that as grace spreads, so, to the glory of God, thanksgiving may also overflow among more and more people.
2Co 4:16 That is why we do not waver; indeed, though this outer human nature of ours may be falling into decay, at the same time our inner human nature is renewed day by day.
Pope Francis’s Message
Dear brothers and sisters!
All of us, as the Apostle Paul would say, carry the treasure of life in earthen vessels (cf. 2 Cor 4:7 – But we hold this treasure in pots of earthenware, so that the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own.), and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities invites us to understand that our fragility in no way obscures “ the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ “, but reveals “ the immensity of the power is God’s and not our own” (2 Cor 4:1-2 & 5-7).
To everyone, in fact, without merit and without distinction, the Gospel is given in its entirety and, with it, the joyful task of proclaiming it. “We are all called to offer others the witness of the saving love of the Lord, who beyond our imperfections offers us his closeness, his word, his strength, and gives meaning to our lives” (Ap. Evangelii Gaudium, 121).
Communicating the Gospel, in fact, is not a task reserved only for some, but becomes an indispensable necessity of anyone who has experienced the encounter and friendship with Jesus. [1 – Message on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 20 November 2021 – the full message is in a footnote below]
Trust in the Lord, the experience of his tenderness, the comfort of his company are not privileges reserved for a few, nor are the prerogatives of those who have received careful and prolonged formation.
His mercy, on the contrary, allows itself to be known and encountered in a very special way by those who do not trust in themselves and feel the need to abandon themselves to the Lord and to share with their brothers and sisters.
It is a wisdom that grows as the awareness of one’s own limit increases, and which allows us to appreciate even more the Almighty’s choice of love to bend down to our weakness.
It is an awareness that frees from the sadness of lament – even the most motivated – and allows the heart to open itself to praise.
The joy that fills the face of those who encounter Jesus and entrust their lives to him is not an illusion or the fruit of naivety, it is the bursting of the power of his Resurrection into a life marked by fragility.
It is a true and proper magisterium of fragility which, if listened to, would make our societies more human and fraternal, inducing each of us to understand that happiness is a bread that cannot be eaten alone.
How much the awareness of needing each other would help us to have less hostile relationships with those around us!
And how much the realization that not even peoples are saved alone would push us to seek solutions to the senseless conflicts we are experiencing!
Today we want to remember the suffering of all women and men with disabilities who live in situations of war, or of those who find themselves carrying a disability because of the fighting. How many people – in Ukraine and in other theatres of war – remain imprisoned in places where fighting is taking place and do not even have the opportunity to escape? Special attention must be paid to them and their access to humanitarian aid must be facilitated in every way.
The Magisterium of fragility is a charism with which you – sisters and brothers with disabilities – can enrich the Church: your presence “can contribute to transforming the realities in which we live, making them more human and more welcoming. Without vulnerability, without limits, without obstacles to overcome, there would be no true humanity.” [2 – The Church is our home. Summary of the Special Synodal Consultation of Persons with Disabilities, by the Dicastery for the Laity, Family and Life, n. 2: cf. Website of the Dicastery LFV]
And this is why I rejoice that the synodal journey is proving to be a propitious occasion to finally listen to your voice too, and that the echo of this participation has reached the preparatory document for the continental stage of the Synod.
It states: “Numerous summaries point to the lack of appropriate structures and methods of accompaniment for persons with disabilities and call for new ways to welcome their contribution and promote their participation: in spite of her own teachings, the Church risks imitating the way in which society sets them aside. The forms of discrimination listed – 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 waste towards people with disabilities.
They are not born by chance but have in common the same root: the idea that the life of people with disabilities is worth less than others”.
[3 – Working Document for the Continental Stage of the Synod on Synodality, 36]
The Synod, above all, with its invitation to walk together and to listen to one another, helps us to understand how in the Church – also with regard to disability – there is not an us and a them but a single us, with Jesus Christ at the center, where each one brings his own gifts and limitations.
This awareness, based 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 was truly inclusive, it made it possible to dispel entrenched prejudices. In fact, it is encounter and fraternity that break down the walls of misunderstanding and overcome discrimination; For this reason I hope that every Christian community will be open to the presence of sisters and brothers with disabilities, always ensuring that they are welcomed and fully included.
Whether it is a condition that affects us, not them, it is discovered when disability, temporarily or due to the natural aging process, involves ourselves or someone of our loved ones.
In this situation we begin to look at reality with new eyes, and we realize the need to break down even those barriers that previously seemed insignificant.
All this, however, 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 one Father and does not 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 for Persons with Disabilities. I accompany them with prayer.
I cordially bless all of you, and I ask you, please, to pray for me.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 3 December 2022
FRANCIS
[1] Cf. Message on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, 20 November 2021.
Dear brothers and sisters!
As we celebrate your International Day, I would like to speak directly to all of you who live with any condition of disability, to tell you that the Church loves you and needs each of you for the fulfilment of her mission at the service of the Gospel.
Jesus, our friend
Jesus is our friend! That is what he told his disciples at the Last Supper (cf. Jn 15:14). His words also speak to us; they shed light on the mystery of our close relationship to him as members of his Church. “Friendship with Jesus cannot be broken. He never leaves us, even though at times it appears that he keeps silent. When we need him, he makes himself known to us; he remains at our side wherever we go” (Christus Vivit, 154). We Christians have received a gift: access to the heart of Jesus and friendship with him. It is a privilege and a blessing, and it becomes our vocation: we are called to be friends of Jesus!
Having Jesus as a friend is an immense consolation. It can turn each of us into a grateful and joyful disciple, one capable of showing that our frailties are no obstacle to living and proclaiming the Gospel. In fact, a trusting and personal friendship with Jesus 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” ( Evangelii Gaudium, 1), since, as a great exegete has written, friendship with Jesus is “a spark that kindles the fire of enthusiasm”. [1]
The Church is your home
Baptism makes each one of us a full-fledged member of the Church community, so that all of us, without exclusion or discrimination, can say: “I am Church!” The Church is truly your home! We, all of us together, are Church, because Jesus chose to be our friend. The Church – and this is something we need to learn more and more in the synodal process we have begun – “is not a community of people who are perfect, but a community of disciples on a journey, who follow the Lord because they know they are sinners and in need of his forgiveness” ( Catechesis, 13 April 2016). In this people which, guided by God’s word, advances amid the events of history, “everyone has a part to play; no one is a mere extra” ( Address to the Faithful of Rome, 18 September 2021). For this reason, each of you is also called to make his or her own contribution to the synodal journey. I am convinced that, if it truly becomes “a participative and inclusive ecclesial process” [2], the Church community will be genuinely enriched
Sad to say, even today many of you “are treated as foreign bodies in society”; you can “feel that [you] exist without belonging and without participating” and that “much still prevents [you] from being fully enfranchised” (Fratelli Tutti, 98). Discrimination 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. In particular, the continuing tendency to regard disabilities – which are the result of the interaction between social barriers and each person’s limitations – as if they were a kind of disease, contributes to keeping your lives separate and stigmatizing you.
As far as the Church’s life is concerned, “the worst form of discrimination… is the lack of spiritual care” (Evangelii Gaudium, 200). Sometimes, as certain of you have unfortunately experienced, this has taken the form of denying access to the sacraments. The Church’s magisterium is very clear in this area, and recently the Directory for Catechesis stated explicitly that “no one can deny the sacraments to persons with disabilities” (No. 272). When we experience such discrimination, it is precisely our friendship with Jesus, that all of us have received as an undeserved gift, which redeems us and enables us to perceive differences as a treasure. 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 (cf. Jn 15:15).
In times of hardship
Jesus’ friendship protects us in moments of difficulty. I am well aware that the Covid-19 pandemic, from which we are struggling to emerge, continues to have grave repercussions on many of your lives. I think, for example, of your being forced to stay at home for long periods of time; the difficulty experienced by many students with disabilities in accessing aids to distance learning; the lengthy interruption of social care services in a good number of countries; and many other hardships that you have had to face. Above all, I think of those of you who live in residential facilities and the pain of forced separation from your loved ones. In those places, the virus hit hard and, despite the dedication of caretakers, it has taken all too many lives. Know that the Pope and the Church are especially close to you, with love and affection!
The Church stands beside those of you who are still struggling with the Coronavirus. As always, she insists that everyone be provided with treatment, and that disabilities not prevent access to the best care available. In this regard, some Episcopal Conferences, such as that of England and Wales [3], and the United States, [4] have already intervened to demand respect for the right of everyone, without discrimination, to medical care.
The Gospel is for everyone
Our vocation arises from our friendship with the Lord. He has chosen us to bear much fruit, fruit that will remain (cf. Jn 15:16). As the true vine, he wants every branch, in union with him, to bear fruit. Yes, Jesus wants us to attain “the happiness for which we were created. He wants us to be saints and not to settle for a bland and mediocre existence” (Gaudete et Exsultate, 1).
The Gospel is also for you! Its message is addressed to everyone; it is a word of consolation and, at the same time, a summons to conversion. The Second Vatican Council, in speaking of the universal call to holiness, 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… In order that the faithful may reach this perfection, they must use their strength accordingly as they have received it, as a gift from Christ… They must devote themselves with all their being to the glory of God and the service of their neighbor” (Lumen Gentium, 40).
The Gospels show that whenever persons with disabilities met Jesus, their lives changed profoundly, and they became his witnesses. Such was the case, for example, of the man blind from birth who, after being healed by Jesus, boldly declared to everyone that Jesus was a prophet (cf. Jn 9:17). Many others joyfully proclaimed what the Lord had done for them.
I know that some of you live in situations that are not easy. I would like to speak personally to each of you, and I ask that, if necessary, your family members or those closest to you read my words to you, or convey my appeal. I ask you to pray. The Lord listens attentively to the prayers of those who trust in him. No one should say: “I don’t know how to pray”, because, as the Apostle says, “the Spirit comes to the aid of our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes with inexpressible groanings” (Rom 8:26). In the Gospels, Jesus always listens to those who turn to him, however haltingly, even with a small sign (cf. Lk 8:44) or a cry for help (cf. Mk 10:47). 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 the sight of the Almighty, we come to realize that we are all equal.
Dear brothers and sisters, today your prayers are more urgently needed than ever before. Saint Teresa of Avilawrote that “at times of difficulty, God’s friends need to be strong in order to support those who are weak”. [5]This time of pandemic has clearly shown us that we are all weak and vulnerable: “We have realized that we are all on the same boat, fragile and disoriented, but at the same time important and needed; all of us are called to row together”. [6] The primary way to do so is precisely by praying. This is something each of us can do; and even if, like Moses, we will have need of support (cf. Ex 17:10), we are confident that the Lord will hear our plea.
To all of you I send my prayerful greetings and good wishes. May the Lord bless you, and may Our Lady watch over you always.
Rome, Saint John Lateran, 20 November 2021 Pope Francis
