Pope establishes commission to relaunch ‘House for the Relief of Suffering’

Vatican News

The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (House for the Relief of Suffering) Foundation, a major Italian healthcare center born from the dream of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina in San Giovanni Rotondo, is preparing for a new phase of renewal.

Pope Leo XIV has signed a chirograph establishing a Commission for Direction and Oversight of the Foundation, with the mandate to identify the best solutions to strengthen its efficiency, effectiveness, and long-term sustainability.

The new steering committee will be chaired by the Prefect of the Secretariat for the Economy, Maximino Caballero Ledo, and coordinated by the Secretary of APSA, Fabio Gasperini.

Its members include the Substitute of the Secretariat of State, Archbishop Paolo Rudelli; the President of APSA, Archbishop Giordano Piccinotti; and Archbishop Giorgio Ferretti of Foggia-Bovino.

The Pope also appointed Dr. Benjamín Estévez de Cominges, Dr. Gino Gumirato, and Attorney Alessandro Ela Oyana to the Technical Committee.

The decision arises from the Apostolic See’s love for works of charity and from the awareness that great institutions, in order to remain faithful to their mission, must be able to face the challenges of change.

“The evolution of the times, of technology, of law, and of the economy,” the chirograph reads, “places the Church’s mission before the challenge of continuous renewal,” especially in the healthcare sector, which requires vision, investment, and prudent management.

Among these institutions is the House for the Relief of Suffering, founded “with the purpose of offering hospitality, assistance, and care to the sick, to pilgrims, and to their families, inspired by the spirituality and figure of its holy founder.”

In order “to face and take up this challenge,” Pope Leo has decided to establish “a Commission for Direction and Oversight of the Foundation ‘Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza – Work of Saint Pio of Pietrelcina, O.F.M. Cap.,’ with the task of analyzing the Foundation’s current situation, identifying the best solutions for ever greater efficiency, effectiveness, and long-term sustainability of its work and mission, and giving concrete implementation to the solutions thus identified.”

The Commission will work on all fronts—economic, patrimonial, and operational—with full capacity to act and to carry out the necessary acts of ordinary and extraordinary administration.

It will report directly to the Pope before any decision of particular importance and, in any case, before adopting acts of special significance or those that have a decisive and significant impact on the Foundation’s assets or modify its Statute.

The House for the Relief of Suffering was born from Padre Pio’s concrete faith, convinced that caring for the body was an integral part of the Christian mission.

Now, decades later, that intuition remains intact, and Leo XIV’s chirograph is a gesture of care. It is the same care with which the saint of Pietrelcina wanted no sick person, pilgrim, or family member to be left without welcome and assistance.

The relaunch of House for the Relief of Suffering represents an act of fidelity to the founder, to the mission of the work, and to all those who pass through its doors each day seeking healing and hope.