Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Secretary of State of His Holiness, welcomed the formation of Sette Pani (Seven Loaves), an Italian Catholic healthcare consortium, as a means to foster Catholic identity and economic efficiency and sustainability.
Cardinal Parolin, who is also president of the Pontifical Commission for the Activities of Public Juridical Persons of the Church in the Healthcare Sector, said that the “grave conditions of difficulty” in Italian Catholic healthcare institutions were “plainly visible” a decade ago, when the commission was formed.
The formation of Sette Pani encountered “resistance, obstacles, and opposition both within and outside the Church,” Cardinal Parolin said in his message for the March 30 signing ceremony establishing the consortium.
In Italy, “the Catholic healthcare sector comprises nearly 300 facilities, employs over 50,000 staff members, and offers 11,669 accredited beds—accounting for 5.3% of the national total,” according to Vatican News.