Pope says rights of mentally handicapped include loving, being loved

Published: 2004-01-08

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The God-given need to love and be loved, which people with mental handicaps share with the rest of humanity, must be met with support, affection and education in fostering modesty, Pope John Paul II said. People with mental handicaps "have a need for affection that is at least as great as that of any other person," the pope said in a message to a Vatican-sponsored symposium on the dignity and rights of the mentally handicapped. "The wounded humanity of the disabled challenges us to recognize, welcome and promote in each of these brothers and sisters of ours the incomparable value of the human person created by God," the pope wrote. The Jan. 7-9 symposium, sponsored by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, brought together experts in law, human rights, medicine, psychology and the pastoral care of people with mental handicaps.

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