On Thursday 23 September, the ceremony to award the "Prize for Life" from the Venice International Grand Prize Foundation – The Golden Lion, honouring the St John of God hospitals engaged in the fight against the pandemic, took place in the grounds of the Curia of the ‘Fatebenefratelli’ Hospital in Rome,

Before a large crowd of people in attendance following strict protocol order, gathered to celebrate life, the Provincial Superior of the Rome Province of the Brothers of St John of God (Fatebenefratelli), Brother Gerardo D'Auria, opened the event, saying: "Welcome to you all. We are happy to have you here again in the gardens of our hospital. We have waited so long for this moment, and at last we can all start again together, albeit with due caution and care. This award, at the behest of the President of the Golden Lion Foundation, Dr Sileno Candelaresi, is a tribute to all of you who are committed to saving the lives of our patients. ‘Do good to yourselves, brothers, for the love of God’ -- this is what St John of God used to say, and this is what has been done in our Hospitals with great care, commitment, dedication, self-denial, professionalism and love ever since. These have been difficult months standing by the side of people who have really known suffering. All our staff have given them their unconditional support, even when the life in jeopardy was not only the patient’s but of those who were nursing them.

This award is in recognition of their hard work!"

Awards were also given to all the hospitals in the Rome Province, the Delegation of the Philippines, Afmal, which had immediately committed itself to providing support to the hospitals as well as to families facing financial hardship due to the pandemic, and the companies that had worked even harder side-by-side with the doctors and nurses, such as Vivenda that has provided meals, GSI, and the new Quadrifoglio for the cleaning services.

Finally, the Golden Lion was also awarded to the Tiber Island Hospital of St John Calabite because, despite the difficulties our historic hospital has been experiencing for some time, throughout the pandemic all the hospital staff and the Brothers have been supporting our Covid patients, bearing practical witness to their resilience and their concern to attend to the needs of the sick.

The Prior General, Brother Jesús Etayo, and Brother Ángel López, the Superior of the Tiber Island Hospital, accepted the award from the hands of Dr Sileno Candelaresi, President of the Venice International Golden Lion Foundation.