Pope’s Global Alliance for helping children launched

By Vatican News

The goal is to provide medical care to one million children over the next three years.

This is the mission of the Pope’s Global Alliance for Children’s Health, a new international network for children’s healthcare and humanitarian aid.

The initiative is spearheaded by the U.S.-based nonprofit Patrons of the World’s Children Hospital, which received the Pope’s mandate to lead the effort on May 11, following a proposal from Mariella Enoc.

Children, the seeds of the future

“Children are the seeds of our future. With children, we can build a new world.”

These words welcomed the promoters and partners of the initiative during an audience with Pope Francis.

The alliance has two primary objectives: first, to create a global network for children—a genuine humanitarian community coordinated by the Organizing Committee for the World Children’s Day, led by Father Enzo Fortunato and Aldo Cagnoli.

The second objective is to establish a dedicated network for providing medical care to children worldwide and supporting healthcare workers in the field. As Pope Francis emphasized, “There are incurable diseases, but there are no incurable children.”

Reaching unmet healthcare needs

The initiative operates using a “Hub and Spoke” system.

The “Hubs” are centers of medical excellence from around the world, providing expertise and care to the “Spokes”—smaller healthcare facilities located in underserved regions where medical needs are unmet.

The connection between the Hubs and Spokes is facilitated by a multilingual digital platform created by Almaviva and Salesforce, integrated with telehealth services provided by Teladoc Health.

Bambino Gesù: The first Hub of the Project

The first Hub will be the Vatican's Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, also known as “the Pope’s hospital.”

These Hubs offer their know-how to care for children and provide technical support to doctors and nurses at the Spokes, who are responsible for identifying urgent pediatric cases and collecting the necessary medical and administrative documentation.

This information is then sent to the Hubs, which deliver the appropriate medical solutions.

The network of Spokes will be coordinated by Medici con l'Africa Cuamm and PIME (Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions).

The strength of fragility

During the audience, Father Fortunato and Aldo Cagnoli expressed their gratitude to the Pope.

“One of the challenges the World Children’s Day Committee faces," they suggested, "is placing the fragility of children at the center and transforming it into the strength of a better world.”

Hundreds of thousands of children need medical attention

“There are countless children in desperate need of medical care around the world,” said Fabrizio Arengi Bentivoglio, President of Patrons of the World’s Children Hospital.

“I think of the children affected by war in Ukraine and Gaza, as well as those suffering from other human rights abuses and natural disasters.

"While there are organizations that respond to emergencies when the global spotlight is on, such as governments, the United Nations, WHO, and various foundations, there are hundreds of thousands of children in less visible areas," he emphasized, stressing they have "ongoing needs, children who lack the protection mechanisms they desperately require."

"These are the first children we want to help,” he insisted.

Organizations involved in the initiative

The Patrons of the World’s Children Hospital is the American organization behind the alliance, responsible for raising awareness, fundraising, and coordinating the global children’s health network.

The group also oversees agreements between the Hubs and Spokes and works on project expansion by identifying new collaborative opportunities and building relationships with partner organizations.

Attending the audience with Pope Francis were members of the Patrons of the World’s Children Hospital board, as well as representatives from the other organizations involved: Bambino Gesù Pediatric Hospital, Almaviva, Teladoc Health, Medici con l'Africa Cuamm, PIME, and the Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington.