The Pope’s Hospital and its Impact Highlighted at the Clinton Global Initiative

Listeners and viewers. Welcome to another edition of disrupt ed. Where we talk to the seemingly ordinary humans out there in the world at large that are actually in point of fact making an extraordinary difference. And as you may recall from previous episodes. I have the pleasure of attending this year's Clinton Global Initiative. And so some of my guests are came as a result of that by meeting people and hearing their amazing stories and the work they're doing to create impact in the world and change things for the better for those most in need. And I was really privileged to have an audience with president Clinton And when I was waiting in the holding room to meet him for the first time, I had an opportunity to meet this guest today. And I've worked assiduously ever since to get him on my show because he is a world class, world disruptor, and do gooder. And so I am very pleased to welcome Fabrizio Erenji Bentavolio. Thank you, Fabrizio, for coming to the show, Boongiorno. It is so great to have you. Thank you very much for, Hamio. Happy to be here today with you. Thank you. So, Ben, Fabrizio, you let's start from the beginning. So You, were in the pharmaceuticals business. You worked for Bristol Meyer. You worked for Pfizer. You also had a family largely successful, pharmaceutical company in Italy that you, sold to an investment, and then you began a family office and a family investment firm. Is that right? Maybe you can tell us a little bit about that origin story. Yeah. It is it is absolutely right. I come from an entrepreneurial family. My family, Iran, a pharmaceutical company out of Italy. It was a mini multinational in many different countries for approximately fifty years. I worked very briefly in the family business as I came to the United States to do my graduate school, and I stayed and worked for, as you mentioned, from Hoffman Aroche, from Pfizer, from Bristol Myers, and management consulting. And eventually, we ended up selling the pharmaceutical, our pharmaceutical business, maybe ten, twelve years ago. And, since then, I over the family office, and we've been investing, in Europe, but mainly in the US. Right. And in addition, let's be clear, you're not just investing in for profit ventures. You are investing in things that you believe are gonna enhance the world at large. So you're investing in art foundations, and you're investing in a number of social impact, initiatives that are really, really having a pro making a profound difference. One of the beauty of the many beauties of this country is that, the giving back, is part of the DNA of the of the of the people. And when you get to a certain point in your life in your with your age, with your profession, you know, you feel the need and desire to to get involved. And so I've been involved in a few initiatives, to try to help and support causes where it is underprivileged, where it is children, where it is art. I do not invest in in those initiatives. There are funds that do that. I do that as a as a way of interest and as a way to try to contribute. That's fantastic. Well, very specifically then, you've been doing some of this philanthropic work and lo and behold, you became part of the initiative to bring pope Francis himself, to the Clint Global initiative. So As you shared with me off a camera, this was quite an achievement and quite, herculean effort because as we can suspect, the pope's schedule is very, very tight, and it usually takes a year or more to get him booked into certain speaking engagements or appearances or things like that, and you were able to do this in rapid time. So tell us a little bit about happened behind the scenes to affect this important, milestone event. Yeah. I'm happy to. It's, it's one of those, rare situations where everything works well at the end, although there are a lot of, steps in between that could go wrong. It all started only a few weeks before CGI, this year, the clinical global initiative. When I met, randomly, at the airport, in Italy, the chief of staff of, president Clinton, who a common friend. And, And he mentioned to me that the day we're coming, he was with a it was not with the president at the moment that he had been just the week before in Rome to meet, the pope. And, last year, I was asked to be president of the patron of Bambino Jezoo Children's Hospital, which is one of the most important children's hospitals in the world. And so as I connected the dots, I thought maybe there's an opportunity to, showcase what our hospital does. So long story short, we became friends, and he asked me, if I could help CGI to have some sort of, presence of the pope at the upcoming meeting, like a audio message, a video message, something like that. So I talked to the people in the Vatican, And, you know, the book doesn't do video messages. It's not his thing, as you can imagine. And by the way, we are in the middle of July, and CGI was held, in September. Right. Yeah. And they told me, you know, we will need to have for our production needs everything ready by second week in August. So he gave me four weeks. So we explore different opportunities, writing an article, having a letter, At the end of the day, we decide to, approach, the holy father with one, request. And we thought we thought let's try big. Let's think big and do one request if he goes, we have really great successes. So we ask for a fifteen minute Zoom call live, between the early father and president Clinton in front of two thousand people. And, the book, who has a a great passion and is very tapped in what the hospital does and the activities and the children accepted with no hesitations in no time And so That is amazing. He gave us his, his, his, his, his, okay, little in twenty four hours, and and then the production started. Right. Then the work begins. Right? That work begins exactly. Exactly. To prepare and and but it has been like a incredible experience amazing. This pope is amazing the way he connects with people and the way he cares about the initiatives in a very tactical, tangible and practical manner. I was, really blown away by his participation, his willingness to participate, little lag in in four weeks, we put everything together. So it was was a great great success and a great experience. That was amazing. And and for our listening and viewing audience, we're going to share on this, broadcast. We're gonna share some snippets of the pope's conversation with president Clinton. And let me just say as one of the two thousand people in the audience, I had the opportunity to meet Fabrizio, during a personal audience with the president shortly after that address. And I can say, unambiguously that there wasn't a dry eye in the room. I mean, he left a very powerful message with all of us about the role that individuals each one person in their corner of the world can actually work together to change the world and to make a huge difference. And it was stunningly emotional and poignant and, a lot of us left CGI with an experience that we'll always remember and always think about I think the other thing that's really important, Fabrizio, that I want you to talk more about is, you know, you're running a family business and it's a full time gig, but in addition to that, you answered the call of the Holy Father to participate in the foundation that brings resources too, Bambino Jessu, which is one of the oldest hospitals founded in eighteen sixty nine. One of the most prestigious across the world and set up very much like our, US version of St. Jude's hospital where it has an outreach to children with special needs in your case, many of them refugee children, and you are taking care of these children and providing state of the art for medical care at no cost to their parents at no cost to them. And that's a pretty extraordinary achievement. Doing it on a large scale. You have a what? Six hundred, seven hundred beds in the hospital, and you're doing research in that hospital, but you're also attending the needs of so many children. So people will ask, well, why did I bring Fabrizio on here, on the conversation about disruption? And here's what we can say about that. We live in very disrupted times. And for many people, that means climactic change, and that means global change that's brought about by, intercom intercountry conflict. And so many of these children are the victim of dislocation. Their parents are dislocated. They're dislocated because of armed and civil unrest in their own home country. So you're bringing a lot of these children, hope, and care that they otherwise would have no possibility of getting. Isn't that right? Yes. Absolutely. And and, thank you for your question because it gives me an opportunity to get into the details of something. It's very dear to me. I'm gonna make a comment, starting with the last statement from the holy father at SCGI. He said, He he he referred to two priorities. Climate, let's not wait until it's too late. And children. Let's not leave behind those that are more bond vulnerable. And he finished his, his speech by saying research is the first, way of caring. It's the first way of welcoming. And, at Bambino Jezoo Children Hospital, we we leave that, every day, because the the motto, is there are, diseases that cannot be cured, but there are no children that cannot be taken care of. So that motivation is part of the DNA part of the essence of the hospital and everybody that works around the hospital. So that That is what made me really, wanted to be involved when they asked me a year ago if I wanted to be on the board of this newly established an offer profit in the US with objective raising awareness, about the hospital initiatives and activities and all of that. And then they asked me if I wanted to be a president. So it's one of those questions that there is only one answer. Yes. And and somebody On the pope, man, I want to be precise here. I'm not that important. It's not the pope that is asking me this, but it's the foundation and the and the vatican people. But so so, briefly about the hospital, as you said, the six hundred and twenty seven beds five facilities, in the Vatican and around Rome. The largest hospital and reaches a research center for pediatric care in Europe. Three activities, three main activities, humanitarian care. We provide hundreds and hundreds thousand procedures for for children every every year for free. Training and development of, medical personnel and nurses around the world. We have, fourteen countries with active projects right now to more to launch, shortly, and the training happens in the countries and in Rome, and research programs with, top university, a clinical centers, around the world. We aspire to become, essential children's hospital. We are not that big. But in Europe is is an incredible center, excellence. And, and, we are welcoming children from all over the world. For example, for example, since, the war in in in Ukraine started a year and and a half ago, We treated over two thousand children, for free in Rome, and we hosted them with the family, six thousand people in in in total. And this is all for free. So it's a it's a big production. It's a and And the number of the procedures, number of all the surgeries that are performed there are, really at the at the at the top medical level at the Cateananche. For example, last year, two Siamese twins from Central Africa where separated. They were joined conjoined by the head. They it's a it's a surgery that takes probably a year of preparation, was conducted, very successfully at the hospital last year. And, the pope, baptized the girls, and they are living their life in, in, in, back home. And, there are two more coming up soon. So it's a it's amazing accounting that they do, from children for for for children that are zero year old up to twenty because the a child then grows up and stays as a patient, even when he's not a child or she's not a child anymore. So it's really amazing what, what the hospital all about it. It is an amazing work. And, as I understand it, in nineteen twenty five, the hospital was gated over to the Holy Sea. And then from there, the the Vatican has essentially run the organization. This is also the hospital that's spirited the first artificial heart transplant in a fifteen year old, child. So it's not only that you're providing care to every child and you're providing medical care under the most ambitious circumstances, but you're still leading state of the art research efforts, for you to be able to, you know, for the hospital to be able to engage in the first successful artificial heart transplant. That's a pretty significant achievement, I'd say. Absolutely. It's it's it's amazing the amount of the kind of work that they do in the at the Vatican, in this hospital. And, and that's why is is the pope is very much involved and very much he cares very much about it. That's why it is referred to as the pope's hospital. Right? Now, you know, I was teasing you a moment ago that when the pope asked You only have yes to as the only answer available. But in point of fact, tell us a little bit more about what got you involved in the hospital, what led you to take such an important role, not only to just sort of lend your name or lend your family office and lend your influence to the effort, but you've really gotten hands on into this and you're participating in an initiative that's helping a lot of children through this disrupted channel of the world we we are facing. So I was asked, as I mentioned, a year or so ago. And I said, yes, without really understanding what I was getting I was getting myself into. It has taken a life on its own. It almost become a full time job, not quite, but the on the way. I was recently talking with one of the, staff members at the hospital in in Rome, and he was saying, you came up to speed very quickly, and it shows that, you like it. It cares. You care. Which I do. I do care. Is one of those initiatives that, you get involved because as I mentioned before, is is is nice, to get involved and be give back. But then it's one of those things that grows in you, and and and and you start thinking about it, you start kind of becoming more committed and more involved, and and and has become really And initially, we're trying to still get off the ground because we are brand new. We are not even a year old. As an American foundation, but, it's such an impactful, experience and and the work that they do is so, important for so many children that, it's hard to stay to sit back. Right. Well, I also think that you must have felt as I did. In fact, we shared this off camera. Just a tremendous emotional impact of talking about Bambino Jessu Hospital in the context of CGI because you're talking to all these people who as the president himself described a sea of two thousand duke letters out there in the audience. And so that had to have taken on an impact of its own. When I think about, disrupt ed, we're a podcast, and we talk about the leaders that do gooders, the people making a difference in this world. But it's also a community of people that wanna get disrupted, that wanna understand this more. And understand how they can play a positive role. And I have to go back to the origin of our introduction because it was your enthusiasm, initially that got us talking about this whole thing, and you were so passionate about being there. You had the same gleeful excitement that I did about shaking hands and meeting the president and having a chance to share what you're working on with him. Which is an event unto itself, but but your enthusiasm for the work, was really noteworthy, and that's what really connected the two of us and why I've been you know, recruiting you since to be on the show and to tell your story. At the same time, we have twenty thousand people who become involved in this community have disrupted. And we talk to these people and engage with them all the time. So I wanna give you some airtime to say to this audience, you know, what you most want them to know about Bambino Jessu and how they can get involved. The pope asked us to get involved never alone and always together. So how would you invite people together to get involved in this very important work? So I wanna answer your question. I'm gonna make a comment before then. As we were preparing for CGI with the Bob's staff, the few weeks we had ahead ahead of the event. We obviously worked, a lot on the tactical and logistics of the of the event itself. But, obviously, we had no way to influence more than short time stand what the pope would have said because he kind of a zone opinion. Right? So for me, and for all of us that were there in the first row, hearing the pope, speaking so passionately about the hospital. Among the many priorities that there are in the world and answering president Clinton's question, talking about children and the climate among the many priorities. The war and there are all other things that that he touched upon. Was really a moment of, a very emotional moment, because he showed how much he cares and he showed how much what the hospital is doing. I don't put myself in the in the in the picture here, but what the hospital is doing so important. So, what do I want people to know? I would like to know that, yes, there are a lot of children's hospital around the ward, and they all good do good things. Then there are, fewer hospital that do all, that becomes a little bit of an issue, especially in this word of crisis of all sorts of, descrepancies of, differences in haves and have not. It becomes a little bit of a of a of a unique feature, because access, to Bandison at the top level is very important, is not given. And then the fact the fact that it's an or an organization that has been there for a long time. We'll be there for a long time. And will continue to improve and and and and and expand its outreach, because the three activities that I mentioned before humanitarian care, training, and research are the essence of the Catholic mission, of supporting those that need support and also expand the outreach to go out and look for the people that, are in need, that, otherwise, will not have, an opportunity. So this is what we do in our little space. And then for us, the patrons in the US, we are trying to kind of convey the message you were trying to get the word out. And, obviously, as you very well understand, is a matter of building awareness. And, having more followers that, want to get involved. And there are many ways to get involved. There are also ways to get exposed to what the hospital does and what is the Vatican system, and, and that's why unique. You know, what was different about CGI and I've been to it for the last, since two thousand twelve, And what, and what's different about the event now is that they've taken it next level. So there's a lot more video and there's a lot more highlight reels of the things that are doing. And I have to say that in addition to the kind of emotional response that everyone had to the live conversation between the president and the pope. There was not a dry eye when they did the highlight reel of the work that's going on in Bino Jessu. It's it's truly heartwarming to see, the work of your organization and bringing awareness to some, you know, mighty philanthropic efforts to a world out there that's hurting and which is dramatically making it more difficult for children to thrive. And I think that's probably the biggest takeaway I had is that you're giving these children a chance they might not otherwise have. Yeah. And and, you know, life is is complicated and not, unfortunately, not every patient, not every child has a chance. For example, one of the initiatives that we are involved, is one of many things that, they do. And the hospital is the expansion of the palliative care facility outside, Rome for the children that are terminally ill. And I I mean, I cannot even imagine what it means to be terminally ill, and yet you are a child and yet go on with your life. And yet, you know, have, to put a day after the other after the other. So this, center which welcomes also the family members because the family members need to be next to a child and also needs to be trained. In how to support the child. Is a center is a facility that provides much more than medical care. Right? Because the children still need to play, need to be outside, need to see their siblings, need to see their friends, if you have a recreational, playground area, the kitchen needs to be especially, modified and and adapted to the needs of the patients. So all of this is the taking care of the child that we're talking in the beginning of this call, which I think is very important that this is is is not perceived when we think about a hospital, and we think about medical care all the surroundings around, what is the actual medical care, which is very important. And sometimes is as important as the medical care. Right. Because in some cases, you can't provide medical care for certain conditions. I think I may have shared with you briefly. I have a dear friend whose, son and daughter-in-law, gave birth to two children successively that had a rare genetic defect and unfortunately passed from the earth, after just a month on the planet. And so the hospitals involved in their care were essentially delivering palliative care as soon as they found that they had this a terminal condition. And, Nick and Ashley Vatt went on to create the Baker and Bryson Foundation to provide care to the parents, who are there delivering palliative care to, children that were terminally ill. And it's a it's a terribly difficult moment for everyone involved, but to see these two adults, exercise their Catholic faith and go out and create this foundation and create these care packages and care opportunities for parents that are dealing with an incalculable loss. I mean, a a loss that defies words, is truly remarkable. And so I commend you, Fabrizio, on the work that you're doing in the you're providing as we wrap this episode to our listening and viewing audience. You've been listening to a powerful antidote to the disrupted environment in which we find ourselves. And that's the work of Fabrizio Arrenci Bantevalio and his a team of enthusiastic patrons of the Bambino Chesieu Hospital in Rome. Thank you Fabrizio. For coming, and I wanna invite you to come back. I want in a couple months to hear more of the stories as we continue to help you take your message of care to a larger and and global audience. So, I hope you'll take me up on that invitation, and I hope to see you back on this show to talk more about some of the amazing things you're accomplishing there. Thank you very much. I went to CGI. It was such a treat to meet you at CGI, and that's the beauty of CGI. Is that people that you meet there end up staying in your, you know, in your network long afterwards. I think I've mentioned to you that we began our work on our commitment, some ten years ago, and three of the partners that we started with are still delivering, educational care to people. So You do find yourself in this CGI community where you never lose sight of the people that you started out with. So, let's reconnect in a few months, and let's hear more about the very important work that you're doing. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you very much. I look forward to being back with you. Okay. Great. This has been another episode of disrupt ed. Hey, folks out there. Engage with us. Share with us your response and your feedback to this episode. Join us by subscribing, by sharing your comments, and by socializing the world, the work and the impact that Fabrizio and the patrons of Bambino Jessu are doing to help children in this extraordinarily disrupted world we find ourselves. Thanks for joining us. We look forward to seeing you on another episode. Take care now.