ReutersOutside the Gemelli hospital in Rome there’s a nice statue of one among his most well-known sufferers, Pope John Paul II.
Made of white marble from Carrara, it depicts the pontiff in his final years, bowing and tightening a crucifix, his entrance corrugated by ache.
The docs of the Gemelli hospital helped to avoid wasting the lifetime of John Paul, after they shot him in an try of assassination failed within the sq. of San Pietro in May 1981. He suffered a six -hour operation to take away a bullet from stomach.
It was the primary time {that a} Pope was handled within the largest hospital in Rome.
Among the present sufferers of the hospital is Pope Francis, who was admitted final week with a respiratory an infection. He was recognized with pneumonia in each lungs.
During his 25 -year hold forth, John Paul has been admitted about 10 occasions, typically for extended stays. He obtained remedies for varied illnesses, together with a benign intestinal tumor, an anchor route and a tracheotomy, when Parkinson’s illness was in a sophisticated stage.
Gemelli, who’s a Catholic educating hospital, was opened within the Nineteen Sixties. With over 1500 beds, it is among the largest personal hospitals in Europe.
Built on land donated by Pope Pius XI to the theologian and physician Agostino Gemelli in 1934, he grew to become generally known as “Pap’s Hospital”. John Paul II even nicknamed “Vatican Tre”, with the sq. of San Pietro who’s the Vatican and the papal residence in Castel Gandolfo, Vatican two.
In the 80s, the twins created a particular papal suite, which remains to be in use right this moment.
Getty picturesIt is a small condo on the tenth flooring, a very white suite with austere and easy furnishings. In addition to the bed room and the lavatory, there’s a front room, with a settee mattress for its helpers and a chapel with a knee and a big crucifix, the place the Pope can take part or have a good time mass and say prayers.
The hall for a very long time, which results in the suite is monitored by the Italian State Police, the Vatican Gendarmerie and the protection of the hospital.
The papal suite is reserved for the popes, however different sufferers are handled on the identical flooring.
There is a balcony through which the Pope could seem to greet the devoted and inform Angelus’ weekly prayer.
Supporters typically collect within the sq. exterior the hospital to wish for the well being of the pontiff. Flowers, playing cards, photographs and candles are sometimes laid on the foot of the statue of John Paul II.
ReutersAccording to the official bulletins, Pope Benedict XVI has by no means been admitted to the hospital throughout his 8 -year -old papacy, though he visited when his brother obtained remedies in 2014.
Pope Francis has been handled a number of occasions at Gemelli. In 2013, he had an operation on his colon. It was handled for infectious bronchitis in March 2023 and had surgical procedure for an intestinal hernia that final 12 months.
He has typically been seen thanking his medical crew and different hospital employees. At the top of a keep, he baptized a new child and shared a pizza dinner together with his docs, nurses, assistants and Vatican safety workers.
