Sign language and Braille for the Jubilee of the Sick and Disabled

For the first time, during the Mass in St Peter's Square the Gospel will be "dramatized by a group of disabled people." "To date, the number of pilgrims who have come to Rome for different Jubilee events and with a visit to the four basilicas - besides the Holy Door of the Sanctuary of Divine Love - is 9,100,935".

 

Vatican City (AsiaNews) - The Gospel "dramatized by a group of disabled people", readings and catechesis translated into sign language, you people with down syndrome and with intellectual disabilities among the ministers, four Health Points that will offer free specialized health care and also a welcome party in the gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo for sick and disabled people. These are just some of the events that will characterize the Jubilee of the Sick and Disabled people which will take place from Friday 10 to Sunday 12, outlined today by Msgr. Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for the Promotion of the New Evangelization.

Friday, June 10, at 17:00 in the church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, there will be a moment of catechesis for everyone, and in particular for deaf and blind people, led by a world renowned priest, especially famous in China, the UK and South Africa, for his total commitment to disability. He is Fr. Ciryl Axelrod (pictured), a Redemptorist, deaf and blind, whose catechesis will be accessible in International Sign Linguage (I.S.L.) and Italian Sign Language (L.I.S.) as well as Tactile Signing.

Saturday, June 11 will have two main events. The first appointment of a religious significance at 10.00 and 11.00 of the pilgrims patients and people with disabilities at some churches in Rome’s historic center for a catechesis offered in different languages ​​and in different modalities titled "Mercy source of joy" .

The second event is a moment of entertainment and will take place in the gardens of Castel Sant'Angelo, from 18.00 to 20.00.  It is a welcome party entitled "Beyond all Limits". Familiar faces will host the event such as Rudy Zerbi and Annalisa Minetti. Sick people and people with disabilities will perform along with professional singers and dancers. Of particular note, is the participation of the young people’s “Amoris Laetitia choir ", “Coro Mani Bianche "(young people with intellectual disabilities from Rome’s Testaccio district and Terra dei Fuochi in Southern Italy)," Coro Mani Colorate”, “Coro ci hai dato un Segno "(which includes deaf and blind adults from Pescara in Eastern Italy) and finally the "Chicco SBAND" (the Arche community, visited on May 13 by Pope Francis on "Mercy Friday") and the representation of two songs from the musical "Notre Dame de Paris" in International Sign Language.

Seven "Tents of Mercy" will be erected in the Gardens from 14:00, where some pastoral realities and voluntary agencies will make available and share their experience of evangelization for and with the world of the sick and people with disabilities.

Sunday, June 12 at 10:30 Pope Francis will preside at the Eucharistic celebration which will be streamed live worldwide with sign language. During the celebration, there will be several precautions that deserve to be mentioned. First, the liturgical service and the readings will have people with disabilities as protagonists, in particular, the altar servers will include some young boys with down syndrome and with intellectual disabilities, there will be between a deaf German deacon, the first reading will be proclaimed by a disabled Spanish person, the second, in English, will be read in Braille by a blind girl. All of the readings will be translated by deaf people, from different countries, in the International Sign Language, while the prayers of the faithful in various languages, will be carried out by sick people of different nationalities and with disabilities. In addition, for the first time in St. Peter's Square, the reading of the Gospel will be dramatized by a group with intellectual disabilities to allow the text to be understood by the majority of pilgrims with mental / intellectual disabilities. At the moment of communion, the choir "Amoris Laetitia" will take over from the Sistine Chapel choir which, along with other choirs will also use sign language formats for people with disabilities, they will animate the song Bread of heaven.

Before the celebration, at 9.00 am the pilgrims present in St Peter's Square will be entertained as the wait for Pope Francis with an event titled "When I am weak I am strong", led by Rosario Carello. This will feature the testimony of Enrico Petrillo, husband of Chiara Corbella who died at 28 of a cancer discovered during her pregnancy, Maria Grazia Fiore and her family with two disabled children, and Father Cyril Axelrod, who led the catechesis on Friday. There will also be the testimony of a couple suffering from a degenerative neurological disorder and a greeting from Jean Vanier, founder of the Community L'Arche and Faith and Light who has sent a video message. The testimony will alternate some songs and readings taken from sick people and people with disabilities.

During the Mass the picture of the Madonna Salus infirmorum, kept in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena in the Campus Martius in Rome, will be exposed. This precious sixteenth-century painting by an unknown artist, was donated to the church of La Maddalena by a Roman noble in 1619, after his prayers in front of the image for healing from a disease were miraculously answered. Since then it is venerated and invoked by people who are afflicted by illness.

An initiative sponsored by MedTag Foundation deserves special attention. From Friday, June 10 there will be four Health Points in the vicinity of the 4 Vatican basilicas that will offer free of charge, especially to the many homeless in the city, specialist health care. About 350 volunteers from religious, Red Cross nurses, soldiers and health workers will offer specialist medical treatment in dermatology, breast screening, pediatrics and gynecology free of charge to more than 700 homeless. These will include the administration of vaccines against pneumonia, which is one of the most serious conditions for these people. Pap tests will also be offered to the women. We are grateful to the doctors as of now and to all the staff, who, with a great spirit of dedication  have placed their service of this work of mercy, under the direction of Prof. Raffaele Landolfi from Policlinico Gemelli hospital. A special thank you also goes to the Science for Life - The MedTag Foundation, the Catholic Medical Network and MedTag for making this proposal possible, which was first made to me at the beginning of the Jubilee by the late Prof. Sergio Chimenti who passed away in recent months.

Msgr. Fisichella has finally announced that, at the half-way point of the Jubilee Year, "to date, the number of pilgrims coming to Rome for different jubilee occasions and to visit  the four basilicas - besides the Holy Door of the Sanctuary of Divine Love - is 9,100,935. Certainly a significant number for the first six months of the Jubilee, which confirms the great attention of the faithful around the world in their desire to come to Rome to meet Pope Francis, despite the extremely popular Holy Doors of Mercy present all over the world " .

• Vatican Jubilee
• sick Disabled Fisichella