Description
This was an address to a conference with the title: ‘Disability and the Human Condition. Changing the Social Determinants of Disabilities and Building a New Culture of Inclusion’. The Pope, advocates ‘listening to the voices of men and women with disabilities’ to understand how the lives of persons with disabilities are conditioned ‘not only by functional limitations but also by cultural, legal, financial and social factors’. In this context the Pope argues that the basis of any discussion of such factors must be the ‘dignity of persons with disabilities’ and its ‘anthropological, philosophical and theological implications’. While ‘Vulnerability and frailty are part of the human condition,’ and not proper only to persons with disabilities, the Pope highlights the ‘throwaway culture’ and a mentality that ‘turns the throwaway culture into a culture of death’. This is seen in the abortion of the unborn with disabilities and in the euthanasia of the elderly close to the end. To combat this insidious culture, what is needed is to promote the development of ‘a culture of integral inclusion’.
NB This description is not to be understood as a commentary or interpretation. It is provided only as an aid to help find material on particular bioethical topics.
Read on The Vatican web siteImage: Zebra48bo, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
