Pope highlights need to help parents with hospitalized children

By Vatican News

Pope Francis has underscored the importance of families having the possibility to be at the side of their infirm children in a messagge addressed to Italy's "Unitalsi Lombarda", the Lombardy branch of an association that assists the sick in making pilgrimages to Lourdes and other international shrines. The association just inaugurated its "Casa Fabrizio Frizzi" dedicated to welcoming the parents of hospitalized children.

The Pope writes that this initiative realizes "the dream of a home that can welcome with a smile those who are having to deal with illness, and especially the mothers and fathers who struggle alongside their children who are often very young." The Pope notes in his message how for every child who falls ill, care and recovery involves doctors and nurses but also requires "the love, tenderness and closeness of mothers and fathers" who can be there with them, especially because serious illness often requires specialized care that is often found in hospitals far from home.

A dream come true

The Pope recalled his support for the Unitalsi project from the start when shown to him a year ago. The home is dedicated to Italian television presenter, Fabrizio Frizzi, who died five years ago and whom the Pope remembered as "a great friend of Unitalsi" for over twenty years. He added this "dream has been realised thanks to the contribution of many friends, but above all thanks to the tenacious determination of Vittore De Carli," the Unitalsi leader who also "experienced himself the battle between life and death," recounted in a book he just published, 'From darkness to light through the power of prayer' published in Italian by Libreria Editrice Vaticana. 

Mary, help for families

The home is situated next to the Shrine of Our Lady of Grace, "a small shrine dear to the people of Milan who turn to Mary invoking gifts from heaven and the balm to heal the wounds of life and society," the Pope writes, praying that Mary may sustain with her tenderness and consolation all the parents who will stay at the "Casa Fabrizio Frizzi."