Pope Francis receives Italian blind persons’ association
(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis received the National Council of the Italian Union of Blind and sight-impaired Persons on Saturday. The visit coincided with the Feast of St Lucy, whose later legends involve the gouging and miraculous restoration of her eyes at the time of her martyrdom, and who is venerated as the Patroness of people with sight-related difficulties and handicaps.
In remarks prepared for the occasion and delivered on Saturday morning, Pope Francis focused on three particular character traits of St Lucy: her courage; her sense of belonging to a community; her capacity for self-giving, the ultimate proof of which she gave with her acceptance of martyrdom during the reign of the emperor Diocletian.
“Dear friends,” said Pope Francis, “living according to these values can lead still today to incomprehension, and the fatigue that comes from going against the current – but this does not surprise us.” Rather, he continued, “There is still a need to fight on, with the example and intercession of St Lucy!”
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