Vatican City, 18 July, 2020 / 12:28 pm (ACI Africa).
Pope Francis Saturday named Italian surgeon Giovanni Battista Doglietto as director of the Vatican health fund known as Fondo di Assistenza Sanitaria (FAS).
The appointment follows the departure of the previous FAS director Stefano Loreti, who held the position since January 2017.
Doglietto, 72, was a lead surgeon in the digestive tract division of Rome’s Gemelli Hospital for more than 20 years. He was also an assistant to the surgeon who operated on St. Pope John Paul II after the attempt on the pope’s life on May 13, 1981.
FAS is a health fund for active and retired employees and personnel of the Holy See. It was first established in 1953.
The healthcare fund has gone through several reforms over the years. The most recent was a revamp of statutes and regulations approved by Pope Francis in October 2016, which entered into force at the start of 2017.
