By Isabella H. de Carvalho
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross in Jal Ed Dib, Lebanon, on Dec 2, “is truly a miracle”, said Sister Mary Youssef, Secretary General of the Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, who run the medical center.
Both her religious family and the Hospital were founded by Blessed Jacques Haddad – or “Abouna Yaacoub,” Father Yaacoub, as Sister Mary calls him, a Lebanese Capuchin friar, who lived from 1875 to 1954 and dedicated his life to taking care of the poor and those on the margins of society. Today, the Hospital of the Cross is a pillar in its field, as it is one of the biggest psychiatric institutions in the Middle East – with a capacity to host up to 1000 people – and is known for welcoming all those in need, regardless of religion or nationality.
Despite severely struggling under the weight of the emergency situations that affected Lebanon in the last years, especially the 2019 economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hospital has managed to continue its mission.
Now, the Pope, whose first apostolic exhortation, Dilexi te, focused on Christ and the Church’s love for the poor and the most vulnerable, will stop by this center during his visit to Lebanon from Nov 30 to Dec 2, and thus show his support and proximity to the patients, especially those with mental and physical disabilities.
Pope Leo XIV’s visit to the hospital “is a gift from Abouna Yaacoub, who had the idea of taking care of people who cannot be cared for by anyone else,” emphasized Sister Mary. “If these people weren’t with us at the Hospital of the Cross, they would have nowhere to go.”
Sisters at the service of those who have no one else
Although she does not work directly in the hospital, as secretary general of her congregation she follows her fellow sisters’ work closely. “Our primary charism is works of mercy. That is why our founder established us. He said: ‘I want you to be the heart and hands of God among the people’,” Sister Mary explained.
The Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, founded in 1930, today run 23 institutions across Lebanon and other countries, which include hospitals, schools, medical centers and more, with a focus on taking care of those who have physical or mental disabilities, the elderly or orphans.
The Hospital of the Cross is composed of five pavilions that treat different types of illnesses and also includes a pharmacy, outpatient clinics, a dispensary and more. It supports all types of people, from drug addicts to those with chronic disabilities, who have sometimes even been abandoned by their families.
“There is no one to really take care of them. They consider the hospital to be their home,” Sister Mary said.
There are around 800 patients currently in the Hospital, and over 40 sisters work in it, alongside other medical personnel. There are also 20 bedridden elderly nuns at the center, who pray for the others and, in this way, support their work.
These patients are dear to the heart of the Pope
“The Hospital is a small village,” Sister Mary said, explaining that the Pope will visit the ‘Saint-Dominique’ Pavillion that hosts children with severe disabilities. “He will go to them since they can’t travel.”
She emphasized that the patients are preparing themselves and are very excited for the Pope’s visit: “They feel that a very important person is coming to the hospital just to see them. I cannot describe their joy to you. They are truly, truly happy because the Holy Father is coming.”
And the sisters are also getting ready to host Pope Leo: “We are welcoming this visit as a blessing, as a renewal for each of us sisters individually. We are really preparing ourselves. There is physical fatigue, but from the 35-year-old to the 105-year-old, everyone is truly joyful.”
“I think we wonder if we really deserve this,” she said. “We can only think of our founder, who earned us this visit.”
“How dear these sick people are to the heart of the Holy Father and to the heart of the Church, that they think of them, and that we, the humble Franciscan Sisters of the Cross, founded by Abouna Yaacoub, are worthy of such a visit,” she continued. “Everyone is asking themselves this question.”
“In my heart, I say to myself that if the Church values me so much, then how much more must I work on myself again and again,” she said.
Reflecting on her and her sisters’ mission, she underlined how “tears are never wasted, every trial can become a path to resurrection. For each one of us, I say that we should let God’s presence penetrate us so that we may truly live in peace, according to the motto the Holy Father chose when he was elected”, which is “in the one Christ we are one”.
Sister Mary also expressed the hope that this visit might help further advance Blessed Jacques’ cause for canonization. “What he did was truly miraculous. He did what no one else could do,” she said. “Especially since our mission continues despite the economic crisis, despite everything we are enduring.” – Vatican News
