Pro-Life Medical Initiative To Reproduce Padre Pio's Home For the Relief Of Suffering

Father Calvin Robinson, an Anglican cleric, has joined and the leadership of Catholic Healthcare International (CHI) in announcing an initiative to replicate Saint Padre Pio's Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza (Home for the Relief of Suffering Hospital) and create the world's most faithful pro-life and pro-family medical school in Howell, Michigan.

In 1956, Padre Pio's call was to create a chain of hospitals around the world, caring for the sick and suffering, in the footsteps of Jesus Christ. From small donations, he developed the Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza in San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy, which has grown into a major research medical center. It is now administered by The Vatican. To date, no other Casas have been created.

In 2009, CHI signed an agreement with the Casa to recreate the facility in the Diocese of Lansing, Michigan, under the guidance of Bishop Earl Boyea. Cardinal Raymond Burke, CHI's Episcopal Advisor, emphasized the need to also develop a truly faithful Catholic medical school to provide a supply of physicians who stand for the life and the dignity of every human person, created in the likeness and image of God, from conception to natural death.

CHI is acquiring a 140,000-square-foot hospital in Howell, a small town in a rural part of the state, and has applied for and is seeking accreditation for the Saint Padre Pio Institute for the Relief of Suffering, School of Osteopathic Medicine. 

Father Robinson, a well-known conservative commentator and Old Catholic Anglican Priest, warned of a bleak future if American culture does not change. A member of the medical school's Board of Trustees, Robinson warned of the dangers of silence in the face of evil, citing examples of government overreach and the erosion of fundamental rights in his home country. "If you give in to the woke mob, you have no legs to stand on," he warned. "Either you stand for something or you do not stand at all." He stated that religious liberty and respect for life have eroded in the UK to the point of him relocating to the US, for fear of persecution.

Dr. George Mychaskiw, President of the proposed medical school, stated that medical education has degenerated to teaching what fits a popular political agenda, rather than what is true. He stated that, "euphemisms of 'reproductive health care,' 'ending suffering,' and 'no one would want to live like that,' are more reminiscent of Germany in 1942 than what health care should be in 2024." Mychaskiw said, "This medical school will armor physicians with the faith and truth to stand with their patients, protecting the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable."

The Founder of CHI, Jere Palazzolo, explained the call to replicate Saint Padre Pio's charism of healthcare and discussed the purchase agreement to acquire the hospital facility in Michigan. The Casa USA Home for the Relief of Suffering will include the medical school, an embryo orphanage, a center for unborn children, a birthing unit, a family medicine practice, and the Terri Schiavo Home for the Brain Injured, among other offerings. "The medical center will serve as a place of hope and healing for students, patients, their families, and the entire community," said Palazzolo.