Jubilee event moves Pope

By Simon Caldwell
THE POPE has fulfilled one of the most important events on the Jubilee calendar — by celebrating Mass for thousands of disabled people.
John Paul II told a crowd of 5,000 disabled people and their 7,000 carers, gathered in the Basilica of St Paul Outside the Walls, Rome, that the disabled deserved not only assistance but also love, respect and social acceptance.
He said: "You have passed through the Holy Door in the company of the crucified Lord who, in St Luke's words, is 'good news to the poor, liberty to captives and new sight to the blind'. From the cross of your suffering learn to draw the serenity of spirit which so many people yearn for today."
The Pope called the Jubilee for the Disabled one of the most significant events of the Holy Year, and he was visibly moved when blind, deaf, lame and mentally disturbed people brought the gifts to the altar during the offertory.
He said they represented a challenge to societies which prized "gratification, appearances, speed and efficiency", and said Advent was a good time for Christians to recall their duty to serve the disabled and others on the margins, in the same way Jesus did.
The Pope said: "I like to look upon you in a different light, as bearers of a different kind of ability."