By way of Kristina Millare
Vatican Town, Apr 23, 2025 /
10:30 am
Having cared for the getting old Pope Francis as his non-public nurse since 2022, Italian nurse Massimiliano Strappetti was once a few of the few individuals who noticed the Holy Father moments earlier than his dying on Easter Monday.
Sooner than being appointed Pope Francis’ non-public nurse in August 2022, Strappetti was once the nursing coordinator for the Vatican’s well being division. He set to work within the Vatican in 2002 after having labored 8 years within the in depth care unit of Rome’s Gemelli Medical institution.
Pope Francis is noticed along with his non-public nurse, Massimo Strappetti, on the Jubilee of the In poor health in St. Peter’s Sq., Vatican Town, Sunday, April 6, 2025. Credit score: Daniel Ibáñez/CNA
Strappetti’s appointment got here very quickly after he accompanied the Holy Father on a troublesome apostolic adventure to Canada from July 24–30, 2022. All through 2022, the Holy Father struggled with knee issues.
From August 2022 onward, Strappetti can be noticed through the pope’s facet at nearly each and every one of the crucial pontiff’s public appearances, together with his weekly Wednesday common audiences and Sunday Angelus addresses in Rome and the Vatican in addition to on his a number of apostolic trips out of the country.
The pope’s remaining phrases and ultimate greetings had been reportedly addressed to Strappetti, the person he depended on to take care of him all over the more than one sicknesses and well being emergencies he persisted within the remaining years of his lifestyles.
“Thanks for bringing me again to the Sq.,” the pope is reported to have instructed the nurse. Stappetti, a husband and father recognized for his generosity towards others, introduced the Holy Father in a wheelchair to the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica to ship his ultimate Easter Sunday urbi et orbi cope with on April 20.
After the blessing, the pope became to Strappetti for his opinion, asking: “Do you assume I will organize it?” earlier than happening to the sq. to greet the 50,000 other people from his popemobile, Vatican Information reported.
The next day to come, the pope’s well being started to go to pot at round 5:30 a.m. on Easter Monday morning. An hour later, the Holy Father made a “gesture of farewell along with his hand” to Strappetti earlier than falling right into a coma, after struggling a stroke, in his mattress in his Casa Santa Marta rental, Vatican Information reported.
Strappetti carefully accompanied the 88-year-old pope throughout his convalescence within the Vatican through offering round the clock take care of the pope in his house following his March 23 free up from the health facility after 38 days in Rome’s Gemelli Medical institution.
In an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, Dr. Sergio Alfieri, head of the Gemelli Medical institution’s scientific staff that cared for the pope, stated they adopted the pope’s transparent order, thru Strappetti, to “take a look at the whole thing, let’s no longer surrender” throughout two vital moments after they had to come to a decision whether or not to proceed or forestall remedy.
Previous to operating extra carefully with the Holy Father as his non-public well being care assistant, Strappetti was once a few of the scientific body of workers who, in the summertime of 2021, prompt the pope to go through checking out referring to problems along with his colon. On July 4 of that yr, the Holy Father underwent a three-hour operation that got rid of a part of his colon.
Later in 2021, following the colon operation and 11-day hospitalization in Gemelli, Pope Francis praised Strappetti as “a person with numerous enjoy” who “stored my lifestyles,” in an interview with Spanish radio station COPE.
“Now I will consume the whole thing, which was once no longer conceivable earlier than with the diverticula. I will consume the whole thing. I nonetheless have the postoperative drugs, since the mind has to check in that it has 33 centimeters [12 inches] much less gut,” the pope quipped within the interview.
Kristina Millare is a contract journalist with a certified communications background within the humanitarian support and building sector, information journalism, leisure advertising, politics and govt, trade and entrepreneurship.
