Consistory Hall
Monday, 27 April 2026
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Dear friends, good morning and welcome!
I welcome with pleasure your desire for the Pope to bless the first stone of the “Centro Cuore”, the new great work of the Gemelli Hospital, dedicated to Pope Francis. The name Cuore (Heart), given to the new structure, offers me a starting point for the brief reflection I will share with you.
In its primary, let us say functional, meaning, it stands for Cardiovascular Unique Offer ReEngineered. In other words, it indicates, through an acronym that is effective in its immediacy, that part of the vast complex that is the “Gemelli” where the treatment of cardiovascular diseases will be concentrated. You describe it as a new person-centred organizational model. It is a demanding challenge, which I hope you will tackle with enthusiasm, collaboration and also prayer.
But the word cuore, heart, for your hospital, means much more, because it is part of the very name of the university to which it belongs: the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
In this regard, I would like to recall an important historical detail. When the long-awaited moment came to seek state recognition for the new university, many people advised Father Gemelli not to name it after the Sacred Heart, as that title would have been too devotional. And the founder honestly considered the issue.
But Blessed Armida Barelli had no doubts: the University had to be “of the Sacred Heart”, because it was precisely to the Heart of Christ that the series of “miracles” which had made the undertaking possible was owed. Gemelli listened to his trusted collaborator, and the name was also approved by the government authorities.
Today, we can say that this choice, which was prophetic at the time, remains so today, given that Pope Francis chose to dedicate his last Encyclical, Dilexit nos – almost a testament – to “the human and divine love of the Heart of Jesus Christ”.
In its first part, it recalls Christian anthropology, which understands the heart as the centre and synthesis of the human person. I would like to quote just one passage: “This profound core, present in every man and woman, is not that of the soul, but of the entire person in his or her unique psychosomatic identity. Everything finds its unity in the heart, which can be the dwelling-place of love in all its spiritual, psychic and even physical dimensions. In a word, if love reigns in our heart, we become, in a complete and luminous way, the persons we are meant to be, for every human being is created above all else for love. In the deepest fibre of our being, we were made to love and to be loved” (no. 21).
In this part of the Encyclical, you can find the framework of principles and values that underpin the formation at your hospital, a formation which, on this occasion, I simply wish to encourage: the more “Gemelli” grows, the greater the care that must be taken over the human and Christian formation of those who work there.
The central message of Dilexit nos is, however, theological and spiritual, centred on the mystery of love of the Heart of Christ, the primary source of inspiration and support for our life and our work.
Like an everlasting flame, this love has inspired countless witnesses of charity within the Church, including in the fields of educational and social charity. Among these we may count Father Gemelli, Blessed Armida Barelli and the other founders of the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart.
We know how much Gemelli had longed for the Faculty of Medicine, and we are certain that from above he continues to accompany its developments, especially this initiative of the Centro Cuore.
With these sentiments, I bless you all and the first stone of the new building, invoking the intercession of Mary Most Holy, Seat of Wisdom and Health of the Sick.
Thank you!