Scientific excellence and service to the most vulnerable are the cornerstones of this collaboration. The Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Charity and UniCamillus have signed a three-year agreement to organise hands-on training activities and professional placements.
The agreement, signed by the Prefect of the Dicastery, Archbishop Luis Marín de San Martín, and the Rector of UniCamillus, Gianni Profita, will enable students enrolled in the MSc in Medicine and Surgery, Dentistry and Dental Prosthetics, Physiotherapy and Nursing to undertake placements in the clinics managed by the Dicastery.
At the heart of the project are the people assisted by the Office of the Papal Almoner: homeless individuals, migrants and families living in conditions of extreme marginalisation, who struggle to access essential healthcare.
Future medical professionals working on the front line for the most vulnerable
Under the careful and jointly guided supervision of the Dicastery’s clinical tutors and UniCamillus’s academic tutors, these future healthcare professionals will carry out work of profound human value, taking part in activities aimed at helping the most vulnerable: from initial reception and first aid, to emergency dental treatment, and rehabilitation therapies designed to alleviate the physical pain of people living on the streets.
A shared commitment to human dignity
This partnership represents the natural convergence of the missions of two institutions deeply committed to serving human beings and upholding their dignity. On the one hand, the Dicastery for the Service of Charity, a concrete expression of the Holy Father’s charity towards the poorest; on the other, UniCamillus, an international medical university that educates its students in the holistic care of the person, with a strong focus on humanitarian and emergency contexts. The students’ experience in the clinics run by the Office of the Papal Almoner will teach them that medicine is not only a science, but an act of profound sharing and solidarity towards those who suffer and are invisible to the eyes of the world.
A journey of solidarity strengthened over the years
The signing of this three-year framework agreement does not mark the beginning, but rather the institutional culmination of a progressive process of cooperation already underway between the University and the Office of the Papal Almoner.
The collaboration was formalised in September 2023 with a memorandum of understanding to provide free dental care to people in greatest need at the Madre di Misericordia Outpatient Clinic and the Madonna della Fiducia Clinic. This initiative was followed, in November 2024, by the launch of a free physiotherapy and rehabilitation service, a vital provision for alleviating musculoskeletal and neurological conditions among people living on the streets.