Pope inaugurates second Vatican medical clinic for the poor

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Leo XIV kicked off the celebration of the Jubilee of the Poor by blessing the St. Martin Clinic, an addition to the free clinic the Vatican operates to provide medical care to people without homes or resources or the legal documents needed to access Italian health care.

The new clinic is located under the colonnade surrounding St. Peter's Square not far from the Mother of Mercy Clinic, which Pope Francis had inaugurated before opening the Year of Mercy in 2015. Showers and a barber shop serving the same clientele are nearby.

Like the older facility, the St. Martin Clinic is operated by the Dicastery for the Service of Charity in collaboration with the Vatican health service. Pope Leo inaugurated it Nov. 14 with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, dicastery prefect.

The new clinic has two new examination rooms "fitted with state-of-the-art instruments, as well as a new radiology service," the dicastery said. The "latest-generation X-ray machine will make it possible to diagnose quickly and accurately pneumonia, bone fractures, tumors, degenerative diseases, gallstones and intestinal obstructions -- conditions often overlooked in those living in poverty."

"The early diagnosis of these pathologies will make it possible to begin appropriate treatments in a timely manner, helping to improve the quality of life of those who have nothing," it said.

The Mother of Mercy clinic already offers flu shots and other vaccines, blood tests and visits with general practitioners, internal medicine specialists and dentists. It also offers a wide range of medications at no cost, dentures, eyeglasses and hearing aids.

Each month, Cardinal Krajewski's office said, there are more than 2,000 patient visits thanks to 120 volunteer physicians, nurses and medical technicians. In the past 10 years, there have been more than 102,000 visits by patients coming from 139 different countries.