Rome’s Gemelli hospital, where Pope Francis is being treated for bronchitis, is the favoured choice of pontiffs to the point of being dubbed “Vatican 3” by St Pope John Paul II.

The Polish pope, who was head of the Catholic church from 1978 until his death in 2005, was treated nine times at Gemelli and spent a total of 153 days there.

A view shows a statue of St Pope John Paul II as the sun sets over the Gemelli hospital on March 30, 2023. Photo: Tiziana Fabi / AFP

He quipped that “Vatican number one” was St Peter’s Square, Vatican number two was the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo, and the Gemelli was number three.

St Pope John Paul II’s repeated and prolonged stays caused the Vatican to create a mini-residence on site, an apartment on the 10th floor – the top – that is accessed by a long corridor guarded by Italian and Vatican police.

According to Italian media, the suite is painted white and furnished simply. In addition to his room, there is a meeting room for medical staff, a kitchen, bathroom and rest areas. 

There is also a small chapel where Pope Francis, 86, has prayed since being admitted with a respiratory infection on Wednesday.

A boy pats Pope Francis on the shoulder while leaving in the popemobile car on March 29, 2023 at the end of the weekly general audience at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican. Photo: Vincenzo Pinto / AFP

Rome’s largest 

The papal chamber was created from scratch in May 1981 when St Pope John Paul II was shot in St Peter’s Square by a young Turkish man, Mehmet Ali Agca, and rushed to Gemelli.

He underwent an operation lasting almost six hours to remove a bullet from his abdomen. He was also shot in his hand and arm, and two women in the crowd were also injured.

Pope John Paul II (left) greets Mehmet Ali Agca at Rebibbia prison on December 27, 1983 in Rome. Agca was arrested and has spent nearly three decades in prison for his crime. Photo: Arturo Mari / L'Osservatore Romano / AFP

Pope John Paul II is helped by his bodyguards after being shot by Mehmet Ali Agca at St Peter’s Square in Rome on May 13, 1981. The motive for the attack remains a mystery. Photo: Arturo Mari / L’Osservatore Romano / AFP

St Pope John Paul II returned to the hospital several times, though in the end he died at the Vatican on April 2, 2005.

Today, his statue presides over the entrance of the hospital, whose full name is the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli.

His successor, German theologian Benedict XVI, never stayed at Gemelli – at least according to official announcements.

He resigned in 2013, citing his declining physical and mental health. He lived in a monastery in the grounds of the Vatican and died there on December 31, aged 95.

His successor, the Argentine Pope Francis, spent 10 days at Gemelli in July 2021 after undergoing surgery on his colon.

He was admitted for a second time on Wednesday, in what the Vatican said initially was for pre-planned tests.

It later said he had been diagnosed with a respiratory infection after complaining of breathing difficulties, and would need hospital treatment for a few days.

Gemelli is the largest hospital in Rome, with more than 5,000 people working there, according to its website.

It is part of the University of the Sacred Heart, a Catholic facility founded in 1921 in the northern Italian city of Milan. 

It is now considered the largest Catholic university in Europe, with several sites in Italy.

A general view shows St Peter’s Basilica on March 30, 2023 in the Vatican, a day after Pope Francis was admitted to the Gemelli hospital in Rome. Photo: Filippo Monteforte / AFP