VATICAN CITY (AP) – Pope Francis has met with staffers of the Vatican’s children’s hospital and urged them to resist corruption.
Francis was asked Thursday to describe the ethical characteristics of staffers at the Bambino Gesu (Baby Jesus) Pediatric Hospital. Francis had prepared a response but ditched it to urge the staff to resist the temptation of corruption.
He said the hospital, which sits on a hill overlooking Rome, has had good periods and bad. He denounced the temptation “to transform a good thing like a children’s hospital into a business, where doctors become businessmen and nurses become businessmen.”
The hospital’s past president was placed under investigation this year by Vatican prosecutors after he allegedly directed 422,000 euros ($440,000) in hospital foundation funds to pay for apartment renovations of the Vatican’s retired No. 2.