November 9, 2013
Pope Francis has greeted hundreds of people in wheelchairs one-by-one — part of a special gathering in which rows of seats were removed from a Vatican auditorium to make room for the disabled visitors.
The pontiff lamented that society tends to "hide physical fragility" and reject the disabled. He encouraged those with physical disabilities to banish any feelings of shame, and become "protagonists" in society as well as the Catholic church.
