At noon today, in the Paul VI Hall, the Holy Father, Pope Francis received in audience a group of people participating in the Convention entitled ... and you will always eat at my table! (2 Sam 9:1-13), which is taking place from 11-12 June 2016. This meeting was organized by the Section for Catechesis of disabled people within the Italian National Catechetical Office to mark the 25th anniversary of its foundation.
The Pope responded impromptu to a series of questions that were asked of him by two participants taking part in the meeting, choosing to consign his written text to the participants.
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Section for the Catechesis of disabled persons within the Italian National Catechetical Office. An anniversary that motivates and renews commitment so that disabled persons can be fully welcomed in our parishes, our associations and our ecclesial movements. I thank you for the questions that you have asked, which demonstrate your passion for this pastoral effort. It requires a dual effort: an awareness of the ability of a person with disability (sometimes grave) to be taught the faith; and the willingness to consider them as active members of the communities in which they live.
These brothers and sisters - as this Convention also demonstrates - are not only capable of having genuine experiences of encounter with Christ, but they are also capable of bearing witness to others about such encounters. Much effort has been focused on the pastoral care of the disabled; we must continue, for example, by better recognizing their apostolic and missionary capacity, and even before that, the value of their presence as persons, as living members of the church Body. In their weakness and fragility, they are hidden treasures that can renew our Christian communities.
In the Church, thank God, there is widespread concern for the disabled in their physical, mental and sensory forms and an in general an attitude of welcome. However, our communities are still struggling to practice true inclusion, full participation that finally becomes ordinary and normal. This requires not only technical and specific programmes, but first of all, recognition and acceptance of faces, and tenacious and patient certitude that every person is unique and unrepeatable, and that every excluded face is an impoverishment to the community.
Also in this area, the participation of families is crucial, families who seek to be not only accepted, but encouraged and supported. Our Christian communities are homes in which every suffering person finds com-passion, in which every family carrying its share of suffering and pain can feel understood and respected with dignity. As I observed in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, devoting attention to migrants and to persons with disabilities is a sign of the Spirit. In fact, both these situations are paradigmatic: they especially put into play the way in which we experience the logic of merciful welcome and the integration of fragile persons (AL, 47).
Along the path of including persons with disabilities, there is naturally a decisive place for their admission to the Sacraments. If we recognize the particularity and the beauty of their experience of Christ and of the Church, we should consequently affirm with clarity that they are called to the fullness of sacramental life, even if they are suffering from grave physical disorders. It is sad to note that in some cases there are still doubts, resistance and even the practice of discarding such individuals. We often justify such an attitude by attempting to demonstrate that they have not truly understood the sense of the Sacraments themselves, and in fact, disabled persons are thus denied the exercise of their divine sonship and their full participation in the ecclesial community.
A Sacrament is a gift and the liturgy is life: even before being understood rationally, it seeks to be lived as a special personal and ecclesial experience. In this sense, the Christian community is called to work so that every one of the baptized can have an experience of Christ in the Sacraments. Therefore, it is of great concern within the community that we make sure that disabled people can experience the fact that God is our Father, that he loves us, that he favours the poor and the small through simple every-day acts of love that are undertaken. As the General Directory for Catechesis affirms: The Father's love for the weakest of his children and the continual presence of Jesus with his Spirit give assurance that every person, no matter how limited, is capable of growing in holiness (General Directory for Catechesis, 189).
It is also important that you pay attention to the involvement of disabled persons in the liturgical assembly: that they be permitted to stand in the assembly and make their contributions to the liturgical action with singing and significant gestures, contributing to and sustaining the sense of belonging to each other. It's a matter of developing a mentality and a style that is free from prejudices, exclusions and marginalization, favouring effective fraternity in respect to their diversity which itself is appreciated as a value.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for all that you have done during the past twenty-five years of work to be increasingly attentive to various community services for the needy. Let us continue with perseverance and with the help of Holy Mary our Mother. I pray for you and with all my heart, I bless you; and you too, please pray for me.
The Pope responded impromptu to a series of questions that were asked of him by two participants taking part in the meeting, choosing to consign his written text to the participants.
Speech prepared by the Holy Father, Pope Francis
for the meeting with disabled persons
Dear brothers and sisters,
I welcome you on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Section for the Catechesis of disabled persons within the Italian National Catechetical Office. An anniversary that motivates and renews commitment so that disabled persons can be fully welcomed in our parishes, our associations and our ecclesial movements. I thank you for the questions that you have asked, which demonstrate your passion for this pastoral effort. It requires a dual effort: an awareness of the ability of a person with disability (sometimes grave) to be taught the faith; and the willingness to consider them as active members of the communities in which they live.
These brothers and sisters - as this Convention also demonstrates - are not only capable of having genuine experiences of encounter with Christ, but they are also capable of bearing witness to others about such encounters. Much effort has been focused on the pastoral care of the disabled; we must continue, for example, by better recognizing their apostolic and missionary capacity, and even before that, the value of their presence as persons, as living members of the church Body. In their weakness and fragility, they are hidden treasures that can renew our Christian communities.
In the Church, thank God, there is widespread concern for the disabled in their physical, mental and sensory forms and an in general an attitude of welcome. However, our communities are still struggling to practice true inclusion, full participation that finally becomes ordinary and normal. This requires not only technical and specific programmes, but first of all, recognition and acceptance of faces, and tenacious and patient certitude that every person is unique and unrepeatable, and that every excluded face is an impoverishment to the community.
Also in this area, the participation of families is crucial, families who seek to be not only accepted, but encouraged and supported. Our Christian communities are homes in which every suffering person finds com-passion, in which every family carrying its share of suffering and pain can feel understood and respected with dignity. As I observed in the Apostolic Exhortation Amoris laetitia, devoting attention to migrants and to persons with disabilities is a sign of the Spirit. In fact, both these situations are paradigmatic: they especially put into play the way in which we experience the logic of merciful welcome and the integration of fragile persons (AL, 47).
Along the path of including persons with disabilities, there is naturally a decisive place for their admission to the Sacraments. If we recognize the particularity and the beauty of their experience of Christ and of the Church, we should consequently affirm with clarity that they are called to the fullness of sacramental life, even if they are suffering from grave physical disorders. It is sad to note that in some cases there are still doubts, resistance and even the practice of discarding such individuals. We often justify such an attitude by attempting to demonstrate that they have not truly understood the sense of the Sacraments themselves, and in fact, disabled persons are thus denied the exercise of their divine sonship and their full participation in the ecclesial community.
A Sacrament is a gift and the liturgy is life: even before being understood rationally, it seeks to be lived as a special personal and ecclesial experience. In this sense, the Christian community is called to work so that every one of the baptized can have an experience of Christ in the Sacraments. Therefore, it is of great concern within the community that we make sure that disabled people can experience the fact that God is our Father, that he loves us, that he favours the poor and the small through simple every-day acts of love that are undertaken. As the General Directory for Catechesis affirms: The Father's love for the weakest of his children and the continual presence of Jesus with his Spirit give assurance that every person, no matter how limited, is capable of growing in holiness (General Directory for Catechesis, 189).
It is also important that you pay attention to the involvement of disabled persons in the liturgical assembly: that they be permitted to stand in the assembly and make their contributions to the liturgical action with singing and significant gestures, contributing to and sustaining the sense of belonging to each other. It's a matter of developing a mentality and a style that is free from prejudices, exclusions and marginalization, favouring effective fraternity in respect to their diversity which itself is appreciated as a value.
Dear brothers and sisters, I thank you for all that you have done during the past twenty-five years of work to be increasingly attentive to various community services for the needy. Let us continue with perseverance and with the help of Holy Mary our Mother. I pray for you and with all my heart, I bless you; and you too, please pray for me.
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