AUDIENCES

VATICAN CITY, SEP 26, 2002 (VIS) - The Holy Father today received in separate audiences:

- Archbishop Antonio Maria Rouco Varela of Madrid, Spain.
- Bishop Matias Patricio de Macedo of Campina Grande, Brazil, on his "ad limina" visit.
- Bishop Bernardino Marchio of Pesqueira, Brazil on his "ad limina" visit.

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THE HANDICAPPED, SPECIAL WITNESSES OF GOD'S TENDERNESS

VATICAN CITY, SEP 26, 2002 (VIS) - This morning in Castelgandolfo, the Holy Father welcomed 250 members of the international association "Faith and Light" and, in his address to them in French, thanked them for their work with handicapped people.

"Born in Lourdes," the Pope remarked, "your movement has received much of the grace of this special place where the sick and the handicapped take first place. In welcoming these 'little ones' marked by a mental handicap, you see in them the special witness of God's tenderness. ... I am also thinking about their relatives who, thanks to you, feel supported in their suffering and who see their distress change into hope, in order to welcome in humanity and faith their handicapped children."

"I would like to thank you again," affirmed the Pope, "for your witness in our society, called to discover ever more the dignity of the handicapped, to welcome them and to integrate them into social life, even if much remains to be done for the dignity of every human being to be truly respected and for there to no longer be attacks on the gift of life, especially when it is a question of children who are handicapped."

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