EUROPE/ITALY - St John of God Hospital in Rome has first lay manager in five centuries

Roma (Agenzia Fides) - This morning at the General House of the St John God Brothers in Rome there was the presentation of a new general director of the Order’s centuries old San Giovanni Calibita Hospital situated in the city centre on an island in the River Tiber.
Carlo Maria Cellucci, aged 46, married and the father of two children, is the first layman called to direct the Hospital since it was opened in 1584. The new general director, who has a degree in Economics was until now director of the Management Control Area at the same hospital .
Since the Hospital was established the director has always been a Brother, a member of the Order founded to give medical and above all spiritual care to the sick. The Order locally known as Fatebenefratelli, has hospitals all over the world, especially in developing countries.
The Hospital on the Tiber River island, named after San Giovanni Calibita, is Italy’s oldest St John of God medical centre and is a reference point for the whole city. The Hospital registers an annual average of 26,000 admissions and 900,000 out-patients examinations and registers 4,000 births a year in its busy and renowned maternity and infant care unit.
The new director general, presented officially by the Superior General this morning will take office on the 2 April. (AP) (9/2/2007 Agenzia Fides; Righe:25; Parole: 249)