The Vatican is on a mission to provide healthcare for one million children worldwide over the next three years. To accomplish this monumental task, the Holy See has launched a new international network called the Pope’s Global Alliance for Children’s Health.
Led by the US nonprofit organization Patrons of the World's Children Hospital, the initiative was begun after Pope Francis issued the call in May 2024: “Children are the seed of our future. With children we can build a new world,” Pope Francis said.
According to a press release from the organizers of World Children’s Day, the network will be dedicated to caring for children all over the world, for whom they will provide specialized support to health personnel in the pediatric field. It is described as “a true humanitarian community,” that will be run by the World Children's Day Organizing Committee.
The network will be designed around the “hub and spoke system,” which will see some of the highest caliber hospitals (hubs) lend aid to lesser funded healthcare facilities (spokes) where the demands are unable to be met. Coordination of these services will be run by a “multilingual digital platform” specially designed for the initiative.
Rome’s Bambino Gesù hospital, often referred to as “the Pope's hospital,” has already signed on to be the first hub of the network. Known for the high quality of its pediatric care, Bambino Gesù will offer technical support to the doctors and nurses of the spokes for urgent cases.
Two hospitals in the USA will also be hubs.
Fabrizio Arengi Bentiviglio, president of Patrons of the World's Children Hospital, commented in the press release:
“In the world there are many children in desperate need of medical care. I'm thinking of the children of the war in Ukraine and Gaza, [but] I'm also thinking of other forms of human rights abuses and natural disasters… Unfortunately, there are also hundreds of thousands of children who need daily help in areas that are very little talked about, for whom there are no protection mechanisms. These are the first children we want to help.”
Read more about the Pope’s Global Alliance for Children’s Health at Vatican News.
You can support the efforts by sending a check or making a bank transfer, here.
