Pope Francis receives the Istituto degli Innocenti Medal made by Penko Bottega Orafa

Istituto degli Innocenti in private audience with Pope Francis

Private audience this morning, 24 May, at the Vatican for the Istituto degli Innocenti, with Pope Francis on the occasion of the Institute’s 600th anniversary celebrations.

In the Consistory Hall, Pope Francis met not only the President Maria Grazia Giuffrida, accompanied by the Board of Directors, the Director General Giovanni Palumbo, representatives of the Fondazione Istituto degli Innocenti Onlus, volunteers from the Associazione Volontari Spedale degli Innocenti, employees and collaborators of the Institute, but also, and above all, the children and mothers who are guests in the Florentine institution’s homes and their educators.

The audience was an opportunity to tell the Pontiff about the Institute’s role today and the fruitful cooperation with local, national and international institutions in defending the rights of children and adolescents, as witnessed by the presence at the meeting of representatives of city and regional institutions such as the Archbishop of Florence, Cardinal Giuseppe Betori, the Prefect of Florence, the Mayor of Florence, the Councillor for the Right to Health, Welfare and Social-Health Integration and Sport and the President of the Regional Council of Tuscany.

The Pope was presented with some gifts: drawings by the children of the “Casa Bambini”, a handmade stole by the mothers who live in the Institute’s care facilities, and a medal created by Master Goldsmith Paolo Penko on the occasion of the 600th anniversary, symbolising the signs of recognition of the almost 500,000 Nocentini who have been welcomed to the Istituto degli Innocenti over the centuries. Finally, the President of the Institute invited the Holy Father to return to Florence, as a guest of the Institute, to “ideally embrace all those children who are still waiting to meet their mothers”.

Fonte: Istituto degli Innocenti