Leo creates commission to manage Padre Pio hospital with €250m debt

Pope Leo approved on May 27 a commission to administer a Vatican-owned hospital founded by Padre Pio that allegedly accrued a €250 million debt.

Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza. Image credit: Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, via Facebook.

The pope signed a chirograph establishing a commission for the direction and oversight of the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (House for the Relief of Suffering), a large hospital in San Giovanni Rotondo founded by Padre Pio in 1956 and overseen by the Vatican Secretariat of State.

According to several reports, the hospital has a debt close to €250 million. The hospital is also in the middle of a €32 million dispute with regional authorities, and in a tense internal situation over new labor contracts.

Padre Pio himself laid the hospital’s cornerstone in 1947 and it was officially founded in 1956. The Casa Sollievo is one of the largest hospitals in southern Italy, with 756 beds and 2,700 employees.

The chirograph says that the commission will have full financial, patrimonial, and operational authority to carry out the mission of the foundation.

The chirograph says that the decision was made because “the evolution of the times, of technology, of law, and of the economy places the Church’s mission before the challenge of