“They see the X-ray and ... 'return to sender.'” With these words, Pope Francis criticized a society that eliminates disabled people “before they are born.” He was speaking to a delegation of ministers taking part in the G7 summit on inclusion, whom he welcomed to the Vatican on October 17, 2024. He also defended the elderly, who are treated like “old shoes.”
From October 14 to 16, the G7 countries – the United States, Canada, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Germany – held the first “Inclusion and Disability” summit in Perugia, in the Italian region of Umbria. During the meeting, ministers from the seven countries, plus the European Union, Tunisia, Kenya, South Africa, and Vietnam, signed the Solfagnano Charter setting out eight priorities for the inclusion of people with disabilities.
Inclusion of the “differently abled” and elderly is matter of justice
In his address to them, the Pontiff repeatedly distanced himself from the term “disability” or “handicap,” preferring to speak of “different abilities” or “differently abled.”
“Once, when talking about disabled people, someone said to me, 'But be careful, because we're all a little disabled!' All of us. It's true,” Francis added.
Addressing the politicians, the head of the Catholic Church criticized “a world that too often forgets about disabled people, or unfortunately sends them away before they are born: they see the X-ray and ... return to sender,” he said, referring to the practice of eugenic abortion.
The Argentine Pontiff called for the inclusion of people with disabilities to be “a priority in all countries.” He called for a “change of mentality,” a fight against “prejudice,” and the removal of “every physical, social, cultural, and religious barrier” preventing these people from participating fully in the life of society.
It's not a question of “welfarism” but of “justice,” he insisted.
Throughout his text, the 266th pope pleaded in particular for access to employment for people with disabilities — their exclusion being “a serious form of discrimination” — as well as their participation in cultural life and sports. He also called for technology to be used “wisely, so that it does not create new inequalities.” And he called for disabled people to be protected in “humanitarian emergencies linked to climate crises and conflicts.”
“Like old shoes”
Pope Francis also shared his “sorrow” at seeing a “culture of rejection of the elderly.”
“The elderly are wisdom, and they are rejected as if they were old shoes,” he lamented.
For the Pope, this sidelining of the elderly is due to a “false culture of well-being.” “Grandparents, old people, in retirement homes. It's very ugly,” he lamented.
