Pope makes pastoral visit to Gemelli Hospital

Pope Benedict was scheduled to make a pastoral visit on Thursday to the Agostino Gemelli Teaching Hospital, located on Rome’s Monte Mario hill. The Gemelli serves as the official hospital for the Pope, and a suite of reserved rooms is always available for him. It is the official teaching hospital of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, and also houses the university's Bioethics Centre. The Pope's visit is marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the faculty.

“There’s a lot of excitement on campus [about the papal visit], and all the students are buzzing about it a bit,” said Joseph Meaney, a doctoral candidate in the Bioethics programme.

Meaney told Vatican Radio about what the hospital is like.

“The Gemelli is enormous,” he said. “Sometimes you can get lost in the corridors”

He said there is one department for which he has a special affection.

“The Gemelli has been pioneering a lot of work in treating the unborn child in the womb,” said Meaney, who also works for Human Life International. “It’s wonderful to have this kind of view of the preborn child as a patient, as opposed to as a problem.”

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