Vatican to hold conference on helping deaf people

(Nov.17, 2009): More than 278 million people suffer from hearing loss affecting their satisfactory participation in society, starting from education in school; among these over 59 million suffer from total deafness “said the President of Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Health Care workers at a Press Conference in the Vatican on Tuesday. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski said the theme of the 24^th International Conference to be held 19-21 Nov. in the Vatican will be “ Open (Ephphatha). The Deaf person in the life of the Church”. According to the program the 3-day meeting will be divided into sections, relating to the different aspects of deafness. The first day will cover the themes of “Deaf persons in the world of past and present,” “The psychological world of deaf people” and “Experiences from the world of deafness”. The themes discussed on the second day will be on “The family and the deaf” and “Ministry to deaf people. The highlight of this second day will be an audience with of Pope Benedict XVI . The last day will be devoted to a recapitulation of the previous days activities and the presentation of a final report. According to official figures, one in every thousand children born in high-income countries is afflicted with hearing loss.