Pope promotes Vatican nurse credited with saving his life

Published Thursday 4 August 2022

ROME (AP) — Pope Francis has promoted a Vatican nurse whom he credited with saving his life to be his “personal health care assistant.” The Vatican announced the appointment of Massimiliano Strappetti in a one-line statement issued Thursday. Strappetti, the nursing coordinator of the Vatican’s health department, accompanied Francis on a difficult trip to Canada last month. Francis, 85, last year credited Strappetti with having accurately ascertained an intestinal problem that led to the pope’s 10-day hospital stay in July 2021 to remove 33 centimeters (13 inches) of his colon that had narrowed. “A nurse, a man with a lot of experience, saved my life,” Francis told the COPE radio of the Spanish bishops’ conference in the months after his surgery.