The Jubilee for People with Disabilities will take place on April 28-29, as part of the Holy Year celebrations. It’s a moment to reaffirm that every person has a place in the Church—not despite their differences, but because of them.
Pope Francis, who has been using a wheelchair since 2022 due to knee pain, has consistently emphasized the importance of recognizing the immense value that people with disabilities bring to the Church.
"Pope Francis sees disability as part of the ordinary way of being church. Everyday existence of people with disabilities in the church is part of who we are as church,” explained Cristina Gangemi, who has a Master’s in Disability Theology.
Joe Apicella is a Pastoral worker. He noted, “Pope Francis told us that all people with disabilities have an obligation to be evangelists going out, evangelizing other people. He's teaching us that a person with a disability no longer is a person to be helped. They are a person who has to go out and help others and evangelize others.”
Gangemi added, “People with more profound intellectual disabilities will present themselves as creative people of faith. They will express their belief in God through body language before the Eucharist, through manifesting the gifts of the Holy Spirit following their confirmation in ways that are not verbal, that haven't been learned, that are natural expressions of the way in which God's grace has touched their life.”
“As priests, we can be rather inclined to get up on a soapbox and preach at people. And it's so important to actually listen,” Bishop Paul Hendricks, Auxiliary Bishop for the Kent Area of Southwark, told EWTN.
The two-day Jubilee for People with Disabilities will include the passage through the Holy Door, prayers and a special encounter with the Holy Father.
Adapted by Jacob Stein
SIGN UP FOR OUR NEWSLETTER HERE
Alexey Gotovskiy has worked at the EWTN Vatican Bureau as a journalist, TV Producer & Manager for the last 7 years. He was born in the Soviet Union, grew up in Russia, was raised in Kazakhstan, and received his graduate level education in Church Communications at the Roman Pontifical University of Holy Cross. He produced the EWTN Vatican Bureau’s flagship program “VATICANO” for 5 years and over 200 episodes covering the Universal Church and Vatican. He was on the papal flight representing EWTN on Pope Francis’ historic trip to Iraq. He speaks 6 languages and is passionate about the former Soviet world and building a bridge between the West and East.
