VATICAN CITY – The Pope has appointed Massimiliano Strappetti as his “personal health assistant”. The nurse has already been at the Pope’s side for months and Francis himself revealed, after the colon surgery: “He saved my life”.
Nurse coordinator of the Vatican Health and Hygiene Directorate, from today Strappetti enters Santa Marta to take care of the Pope full time. It is the first time that such an appointment has been recorded because so far a formal appointment was only in the case of the Pontiff’s personal doctor, today Professor Roberto Bernabei.
On the one hand, the appointment sounds like a recognition to Strappetti that the Pontiff considers precisely the one who saved him. But it is also a sign that as we age, Bergoglio is 85 years old, requires a more constant presence of a nurse. The Pontiff needs care and therapy not only for the pain in his knee, which forces him to move with a wheelchair or with a cane, but also for the ailments that many elderly people at his age have. “I don’t think I can go with the same pace of travel as before – he had confided to reporters a few days ago at the press conference on the return flight from Canada -. I believe that at my age and with this limitation – he said with reference to the pain to the knee – I have to save a little to be able to serve the Church. Or, on the contrary, think about the possibility of stepping aside “.
Option, the latter, which at the moment, however, has not taken into consideration. For the Pope, Strappetti also represents that category of health workers who are closest to patients, namely nurses. They are the ones who have the most relationships with the patient and it is for this reason that Francis, especially after the Covid pandemic, often quotes and praises them.
The nurse chosen today by the Pope as his personal assistant is highly appreciated in the Vatican for his professionalism, confidentiality and dedication to the least. In fact, he collaborates with the Almsman, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, to alleviate the suffering of the many homeless people who circulate in the Vatican area. He came to work alongside the Pope after a professional career that had seen him take his first steps at the Gemelli hospital in Rome, even in the delicate resuscitation ward. It is the first time that the Pope’s nurse has a “face”.
Many health workers who were close to the Popes, especially John Paul II who in the last years of his pontificate had a continuous need for specialized care. But that of Strappetti is the first appointment of its kind to enter the official documents of a pontificate.