evidence: By Lisa Zengarini "Welcoming people with disabilities and responding to their needs is a duty of the civil and ecclesial communities," Pope Francis said during an audience on Saturday with a group of disabled people from Italy in the Vatican on the occasion of the annual observance of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD), which is celebrated on December 3. [...] Concluding the Pope encouraged Christian communities in their work for people with disabilities, saying their testimony is a concrete sign of peace and hope for a more humane and fraternal world in these times of war.