Coronavirus, Card. Turkson visiting the Gemelli Hospital: "I bring you the Pope's embrace!"

This afternoon at 2.30 pm Card. Peter K.A. Turkson, Prefect of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, visited the Agostino Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome.

The Prefect, accompanied by the Under-Secretaries of the Dicastery, Mons. Segundo Tejado Muñoz and Fr. Nicola Riccardi, met the medical-health personnel involved in the emergency linked to Covid-19. The greeting of the Holy Father was brought to them and to all the patients affected by the virus, to their families and to the priests who exercise the pastoral ministry within the hospital: "I bring you the Pope's embrace - said the Cardinal - you are not alone in the fight against Coronavirus! ".

At the end of the meeting, the representatives of the Dicastery handed over some Rosaries blessed by His Holiness Francis, ensuring the prayer and support of the Church in this difficult moment of struggle against the pandemic and physical and spiritual trial.

"It was interesting to note - the Cardinal said on the sidelines of the visit - how the hospital took advantage of the experience of the facilities in Northern Italy, immediately isolating the department dedicated to Covid patients from the others, and thus avoiding infection spread within the facility. Furthermore, the scientific community gathered with us has made us understand how interdisciplinarity is today the fundamental resource in the fight against the pandemic: pulmonologists, infectious disease specialists, immunologists, biologists, etc. are constantly working together ". This is the confirmation, he added, "of how, in the search for an integral approach to human care, every aspect and every experience are connected to each other, and all contribute to a human promotion in the full sense". A sign of what the Pope constantly repeats for everything that concerns the life and care of creation: "everything is connected".