This afternoon, the Holy Father, Pope Francis left the Shrine of the Guard and travelled by car to the Giannina Gaslini Paediatric Hospital in Genoa.
Upon his arrival, the Pope paid a visit to children who have been hospitalized in various sectors of the hospital. Then, after having paid a visit to the hospital's Department of Resuscitation, he greeted the medical and administrative personnel. At the conclusion of their visit, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Kennedy Square where he celebrated the Eucharist.
Dear brothers and sisters,
During my visit to Genoa, I could not bypass a stop in this hospital where babies are cared for because the suffering of children is certainly the most difficult to accept; and so the Lord calls me to be, even briefly, close to these babies and children as well as their families. Many times, I ask time and time again: why do children have to suffer? ... and I still cannot find an explanation. I can only look to the cross and stop there.
I greet all of you who work in this renowned structure, who for the past eighty years have dedicated your efforts with passion and competence to caring for infants, wit the important support of relevant research. I express my appreciation to the leaders of this hospital, beginning with the President of the Foundation, the Archbishop of Genoa, the doctors, the paramedics, and all those who collaborate in various specializations, as well as the Cappuccin Friars Minor and all those who assist and help the children with love and dedication. In fact, they also need your gestures of friendship, your understanding, your affection and your paternal and maternal support.
This Institute is an act of love on the part of Senator Gerolamo Gaslini. In order to honour his daughter who died at a tender age, he divested himself of all his riches - companies, establishments, buildings, money and even his home - and founded this hospital. Therefore, this hospital, which is known and appreciated throughout Italy and around the world, has a special role: to continue as a symbol of generosity and solidarity. In the act of establishing this hospital, Senator Gaslini stated: It is my firm will that this Institute should hold the Catholic faith as its base and guide ... so that it may ferment every activity and comfort every pain. We know that faith works above all through charity and without charity, there is only death. Therefore I encourage all of you to carry out your delicate work motivated by charity, mindful of the good Samaritan in the gospel: attentive to the needs of your little patients, bowing down tenderly over their fragility and seeing the Lord in their faces. Those who serve the sick with love also serve Jesus who opens the kingdom of God to us.
I hope that this hospital, faithful to its mission, will continue its appreciated work of caring and of research through generous contributions at all levels and in all categories. On my part, I am accompanying you with my prayer and the blessing of the Lord, which I willingly impart upon you, on all the patients and upon their families.
(Blessing)
Upon his arrival, the Pope paid a visit to children who have been hospitalized in various sectors of the hospital. Then, after having paid a visit to the hospital's Department of Resuscitation, he greeted the medical and administrative personnel. At the conclusion of their visit, Pope Francis travelled by car to the Kennedy Square where he celebrated the Eucharist.
Greetings of the Holy Father, Pope Francis
offered to the personnel of the Gaslini Hospital
Dear brothers and sisters,
During my visit to Genoa, I could not bypass a stop in this hospital where babies are cared for because the suffering of children is certainly the most difficult to accept; and so the Lord calls me to be, even briefly, close to these babies and children as well as their families. Many times, I ask time and time again: why do children have to suffer? ... and I still cannot find an explanation. I can only look to the cross and stop there.
I greet all of you who work in this renowned structure, who for the past eighty years have dedicated your efforts with passion and competence to caring for infants, wit the important support of relevant research. I express my appreciation to the leaders of this hospital, beginning with the President of the Foundation, the Archbishop of Genoa, the doctors, the paramedics, and all those who collaborate in various specializations, as well as the Cappuccin Friars Minor and all those who assist and help the children with love and dedication. In fact, they also need your gestures of friendship, your understanding, your affection and your paternal and maternal support.
This Institute is an act of love on the part of Senator Gerolamo Gaslini. In order to honour his daughter who died at a tender age, he divested himself of all his riches - companies, establishments, buildings, money and even his home - and founded this hospital. Therefore, this hospital, which is known and appreciated throughout Italy and around the world, has a special role: to continue as a symbol of generosity and solidarity. In the act of establishing this hospital, Senator Gaslini stated: It is my firm will that this Institute should hold the Catholic faith as its base and guide ... so that it may ferment every activity and comfort every pain. We know that faith works above all through charity and without charity, there is only death. Therefore I encourage all of you to carry out your delicate work motivated by charity, mindful of the good Samaritan in the gospel: attentive to the needs of your little patients, bowing down tenderly over their fragility and seeing the Lord in their faces. Those who serve the sick with love also serve Jesus who opens the kingdom of God to us.
I hope that this hospital, faithful to its mission, will continue its appreciated work of caring and of research through generous contributions at all levels and in all categories. On my part, I am accompanying you with my prayer and the blessing of the Lord, which I willingly impart upon you, on all the patients and upon their families.
(Blessing)
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