400 Order of Malta volunteers deployed for emergency medical services
The Grand Master of the Sovereign Order of Malta, Fra’ Matthew Festing, participated in the canonization celebrations for John XXIII and John Paul II held yesterday in St. Peter’s Square. A historic event played out in the presence of some ninety official delegations with heads of state and government, including that of the Sovereign Order of Malta. At the end of the ceremony, the Grand Master greeted and thanked Pope Francis.
For the occasion over 400 of the Order of Malta’s volunteers were deployed during Saturday 26 and Sunday 27 April. A commitment that has continued this morning with the thanksgiving mass that will officially close the celebrations. The Order’s volunteers will also remain until this evening to guarantee emergency medical services for the departing pilgrims.
Operational 365 days a year, the Order of Malta’s first-aid post – located a few metres from the entrance to the basilica – has intensified its staff for the occasion, composed of doctors, nurses and emergency personnel present over the entire 48 hours. The five facilities located in strategic points of the square enabled volunteers to provide prompt first-aid services.
“Once again the first-aid station has performed its “hospitaller” and hospitability mission, taking care of both the health and well-being of pilgrims, often tired and troubled after their journey and long hours of waiting,” said the medical director of the Order of Malta’s facility, Pier Paolo Visentin, stressing the dual function of the Order’s mission in offering medical assistance together with psychological and spiritual support.
In addition, the Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps was responsible for the areas around St. Peter’s Square with 300 volunteers mobilized. On the crowded Via della Conciliazione leading up to the square there is an advanced medical facility with all the equipment necessary for a rapid first-aid service. The volunteers carried out hundreds of emergency interventions, also during the night of Saturday 26, with the invaluable support of 17 volunteers from the Order of Malta’s Polish Association Relief Corps, come to Rome especially for the event.
On Saturday the Grand Master, accompanied by Cardinal Paolo Sardi, visited the medical facility run by the Order of Malta’s Italian Relief Corps.
For the historic occasion, the Order of Malta’s Magistral Post Office has issued a postcard bearing the faces of Pope Roncalli and Pope Wojtyla on the left and the Order’s octagonal cross on the right.
