“It is I, I would like to compliment you for what you do, also for your testimony of faith,” Pope Francis said, adding that he would like to see her after the pandemic.
Bipendu, originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo, studied medicine in Palermo, and has lived in Italy for 16 years. She formerly served migrants on an Italian Rescue Corps of the Order of Malta rescue vessel in the Mediterreanean.
“When I do my job as a doctor and I visit the patients, at first they look at me a little surprised, they can see that I am not a traditional doctor. I let them have that, and then I introduce myself, I tell them I am not only a doctor but a nun, and their attitude changes in a positive way,” Bipendu told AFP.
More than half of the 20,465 coronavirus fatalities documented by Italy’s Ministry of Health have been in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, where Bipendu is working.
In the Diocese of Bergamo in Lombardy, 25 priests have died after contracting COVID-19.
With more than 100,000 people currently infected with the coronavirus in Italy, the country will remain under a national lockdown until at least May 3.
Throughout Holy Week, Pope Francis repeatedly expressed his gratitude to medical workers and religious serving the suffering.
In his Regina Coeli address on April 13, Pope Francis recognized women working in the medical field to serve others during the health crisis.
“Today I would like to recall with you what many women do, even during this health crisis, to take care of others: women doctors, nurses, law enforcement officers and prison officers, employees of shops for basic necessities,” Pope Francis said.
Courtney Mares is a Rome Correspondent for Catholic News Agency. A graduate of Harvard University, she has reported from news bureaus on three continents and was awarded the Gardner Fellowship for her work with North Korean refugees.
