20,000 people flock to Rome for the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare

The seventh of the great Jubilee events will be held on Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 April, this one dedicated to the sick and the world of healthcare. Around 20,000 pilgrims will come to Rome, including patients, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists, healthcare workers and technicians from over 90 countries around the world.

For the Jubilee of the Sick and the World of Healthcare, thousands will arrive in Rome from Italy, along with delegations from the United States, Spain, Colombia, Argentina and Brazil, and also from France, Mexico, Germany, Croatia, the Philippines, Peru, Congo, Australia, Chile, Congo, Ethiopia, Canada, and Cameroon.

Among the Italian associations taking part are the Fratres delle Misericordie d’Italia blood donor group, ANED – the National Association of Dialysis Patients, the Association of Italian Catholic Doctors, the Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, the Banco Farmaceutico Foundation, AVIS, FIDAS - the Italian Federation of Blood Donor Associations - and the National Federation of Healthcare Professionals.

The Jubilee weekend will begin on Saturday morning, April 5, with pilgrimages to the Holy Door of St. Peter’s starting from 8am. On Saturday afternoon, the “Dialogues with the city” program will see cultural, spiritual and artistic events in the piazzas of the center of Rome organized by various associations, organizations and movements.

In Piazza di Spagna, from 4pm, the event entitled “The value of giving and solidarity” will be held. It has been organized by the Italian Ministry of Health, and will see speeches by Archbishop Fisichella, Orazio Schillaci, the Minister of Health, Roberto Gualtieri, the Mayor of Rome and Francesco Rocca, the President of the Lazio Region.

From 3pm to 6pm, at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, the Conference "Hospice = Hope" will be held, organized by the Campus Bio-medico University of Rome, on the topic of palliative care. In Piazza Risorgimento, from 3-5pm, the American Heart Association is organizing an event to teach emergency heart resuscitation in English, Spanish, French, Polish and German.

The Fratres association, in collaboration with the National Office for Pastoral Healthcare of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, will promote an event in Piazza San Giovanni to raise awareness of blood donation, which will include the opportunity to give blood on the day from 7:30am to 1pm.

At the same time, in Piazza della Chiesa Nuova and Piazza San Salvatore in Lauro, various organizations will offer health education activities from 8am to 4pm. In Piazza dell’Oro, the Office for Pastoral Healthcare of the Vicariate of Rome has organized information and awareness-raising activities on the topic of addiction from 4pm to 6:30pm.

In the church of Santa Monica, in Piazza Sant’Uffizio 8, from 4pm to 5:30pm, there will be a conference about Blessed Benedetta Bianchi Porro, a medical student who died of a rare disease. Taking part will be her sister Emanuela and Don Andrea Vena, her biographer and postulator of the cause of Canonization.

There will also be moments of prayer for the sick, with Eucharistic adoration and catechesis organized by various Religious Congregations devoted to healthcare, from 4pm to 5pm.

In the Church of Santa Maria del Suffragio a prayer gathering will be held, entitled "In the footsteps of Blessed Luigi Novarese. Finding blessings when life is affected by fragility" and in the church of Santa Maria Maddalena there will be a gathering entitled "In the footsteps of St. Camillus de Lellis. The heart unifies a fragmented life". The Fondazione Banco Farmaceutico will organize an event in the church of San Gregorio VII from 5pm to 6:30pm, entitled "Caring and being cared for: where does our hope lie?", with the participation of Monsignor Andrea Manto, Episcopal Vicar for Healthcare in Rome, Sergio Daniotti, President of Banco Farmaceutico and Giorgio Bordin, President of Medicina e Persona.

Finally, the Aula Magna of the Pontifical Lateran University will host a Conference promoted by the National Office for Pastoral Healthcare of the Italian Episcopal Conference and the School of Economics and Management of Health Systems (ALTEMS) of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, on the contribution of patient associations to the construction of a more humane, participatory and sustainable National Health Service.

The Jubilee will conclude on Sunday 6 April, with a Mass in St. Peter's Square at 10:30am, presided over by the Pro-Prefect of the Dicastery for Evangelization, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, who will read the homily prepared by Pope Francis for the occasion. Please note that participation in the Holy Mass is free and does not require tickets.