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Margareta, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown, on Thursday toured the Bambino Gesu Pediatric Hospital of the Vatican, a centre for female Ukrainian refugees and the headquarters of the Sant'Egidio Community.
Vice-president of the Romanian Red Cross Iulian Bobirnea also participated in the talks.
The Bambino Gesu Hospital, founded by the Vatican, is also an important pediatric research centre. Almost 2,000 children from Romania with serious conditions are treated annually there.
Next was a visit to a reception centre for female Ukrainian refugees, an anti-Covid vaccination clinic for disadvantaged people, foreigners without a residence paper, homeless people, both managed by the Sant'Egidio Community.
The royal retinue was accompanied by Daniela Pompei, vice-president of the Sant'Egidio Community in charge with projects for migrants, and by Mauro Garofalo, head of international affairs.
Margareta spoke both to the volunteers and to the beneficiaries of social services, saying that she was deeply moved by the way in which those in dire straits are helped.
The schedule ended with a visit to the headquarters of the Sant'Egidio Community, where discussions took place with the community leadership. Among the subjects covered was the activity carried out by the Sant'Egidio Community in Romania.
The Sant'Egidio community, founded in Rome in 1968, is now present in over 70 countries and has around 60,000 members. The humanitarian actions carried out by volunteers and focus on concrete solidarity with the poor.
Currently there are two Sant'Egidio communities in Romania, in Bucharest and Satu Mare. The first actions in Romania took place in the early 1990s, when aid was brought from Italy for flood-stricken people.
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Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and Prince Consort Radu paid a visit to Rome and the Vatican, November 6-11.
They had a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican on Thursday.
The schedule of the Rome tour also included a meeting with officials of Invictus Italia, visits to the Centro Alti Studi per la Difesa in Rome, the Sovereign Order of Malta, the Italian Red Cross, the Italian Paralympic Committee and the Italian Olympic Committee, as well as a meeting with Italy's Romanian community and the release of an Italian version of Queen Marie's diaries, edited and printed by Rediviva Publishing House in Milan.
Also visited was the Pietro Canonica Museum in the Villa Borghese park, where on display were exhibits related to the Royal Family of Romania.
