POPE APPEALS FOR DIGNITY OF DISABLED TO BE RECOGNIZED

VATICAN CITY, DEC 3, 2000 (VIS) - Today, the first Sunday of Advent, in the basilica of St. Paul's Outside-the-Walls, the Pope presided at a Eucharistic celebration marking the occasion of the Jubilee of the Disabled.
The Pope told the disabled and their families that, with the start of Advent, "the Christian community prepares itself for the second coming of the Lord, focussing on those people that Jesus Himself favored, those whom society marginalizes and does not take into consideration."

"We know that the disabled man or woman - who is a unique and unrepeatable person of equal and inviolable dignity - requires not only care, but above all a love that becomes recognition, respect and integration. ... We wish to feel that we participate in your struggles and in the inevitable moments of discomfort, in order to illuminate them with the light of faith and with the hope of solidarity and of love."

The Pope said that their presence reaffirmed "that disability is not only need, it is also and above all a stimulus and an incentive. ... Your reality questions those concepts of life that are linked only to satisfaction, appearances, speed and efficiency."

"On this solemn occasion, I would like to ask those who hold political responsibility at all levels, to work towards assuring the living conditions and opportunities necessary for your dignity, dear disabled brothers and sisters, to be effectively recognized and safeguarded. In a society so rich in scientific and technical knowledge, it is possible and and a duty to do more in the various ways that civil coexistence demands: from biomedical research to prevent disability, to care, to assistance, to rehabilitation, to new social integration. Nonetheless, though your civil, social and spiritual rights must be defended, it is even more important to protect human relationships, relationships of support, friendship and sharing."

Prior to praying the angelus, the Holy Father gave the assurance that, of all the Jubilee celebrations, today's was "one of the most meaningful and, to me, most dear," and he encouraged "the multiple associations that mature and spread a mentality open to social integration. ... Indeed, the aim of today's event is to reaffirm that a united society is possible if, in others, we learn to recognize and encounter, always and above all, the person."

Finally, John Paul II greeted the disabled, their families and care-givers in six languages.

AC;JUBILEE DISABLED;...;...;VIS;20001204;Word: 410;