Born 50 years ago in Lourdes, Foi et Lumière’s mission is to be a "sign of hope" for families with children with disabilities, and "people who felt excluded and rejected, sometimes even in the Church".
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Pope Francis receives members of Foi et Lumière (Faith and Light), an international association dedicated to people with mental disabilities, marking its 50 years of existence.
The organisation’s mission is to be a "sign of hope" for families with children with disabilities, and “people who felt excluded and rejected, sometimes even in the Church,” said Francis in his address.
"Fifty years have passed since that pilgrimage to Lourdes, during Easter 1971, to which people with mental disabilities, their families and friends were invited.
“At that moment, under Mary’s loving gaze, the experience of Foi et Lumière began. The Holy Spirit suggested the birth of something that no one had foreseen, that is, your communities, in which you celebrate joy, reconciliation and mutual communion.
“The light and strength of the Risen Lord gave hope to so many people who felt excluded and rejected, sometimes even in the Church. From that moment on, the Holy Spirit accompanied your movement’s journey and many Foi et Lumière communities were born in many countries on the five continents, bringing a message of love and acceptance.
“This message is the heart of the Gospel! It reminds us that every person, even and above all the smallest and most fragile, is loved by God and has his own place in the Church and the world.”
“Foi et Lumière’s presence,” Francis said, “was and is a prophecy, because the most fragile people are often discarded, deemed useless. Your prophecy today is even more important, to fight the throwaway culture and remind everyone that diversity is a richness and must never become a reason for exclusion and discrimination.”
For the pontiff, the movement is an "ecumenical journey” because it involves "people of different Christian confessions: Catholic, Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox... A token of communion, a concrete seed of unity. It is precisely the most fragile people who become a source of reconciliation because they call us all onto a journey of conversion.”
Finally, Francis urged the movement to "have the evangelical style of leaven: not to isolate oneself and close onto oneself, but to participate in the life of the Church in parishes and neighbourhoods, bringing your experience and bearing witness to God's choice for the least, the little ones, the excluded.”