The Vatican has launched a new initiative aimed at expanding access to healthcare for consecrated men and women, missionaries and other Church personnel who fall outside the scope of its existing health insurance system.
An agreement signed on 13 July between the Governorate of Vatican City State, RBHold S.p.A. and the Futuro Salute ETS Foundation establishes what the Vatican described as a project of “ethical and social value” intended to study, develop and implement a sustainable model of healthcare for categories of people who are either not enrolled in, or are ineligible for, the Vatican’s Health Insurance Fund.
The agreement was signed at the Governorate Palace by Sr Raffaella Petrini, President of the Governorate of Vatican City State, together with Roberto Favaretto, President of RBHold S.p.A., and Marco Favaretto, Managing Director of the Futuro Salute ETS Foundation.
Rather than creating an immediate replacement for the Vatican’s existing healthcare arrangements, the project seeks to establish a long-term organisational and financial framework capable of supporting prevention, medical treatment and assistance for those who have traditionally remained outside the reach of the Holy See’s internal healthcare structures.
Announcing the initiative, the Governorate said the project aims to “promote access to prevention and treatment pathways through a dedicated organisational and economic model”. It added that the initiative would be developed according to “an economic and financial model based on the principles of mutual solidarity and sustainability, excluding any individual profit-making purpose”.
The Governorate also stressed that “the resources committed will be used to support and develop the solidarity objectives that constitute its mission”, adding that the project would be built around a “sustainable medium- and long-term economic model”.
Under the terms of the agreement, responsibilities are divided between the three parties. The Governorate will identify those eligible to benefit from the programme while overseeing clinical governance through its Directorate of Health and Hygiene, which will evaluate the appropriateness of treatments and coordinate healthcare pathways.
RBHold will contribute its expertise in designing the organisational and financial architecture underpinning the initiative, drawing on its experience in supplementary welfare, healthcare administration, insurance services and pension management.
Meanwhile, the Futuro Salute ETS Foundation will focus on promoting the project’s charitable dimension, supporting solidarity initiatives and securing the financial resources required to sustain the programme over the long term.
There have long been limitations within the Vatican’s existing healthcare arrangements. Medical coverage for those connected with the Holy See has traditionally centred on the Fondo di Assistenza Sanitaria (FAS), the Vatican’s internal Health Insurance Fund, which primarily serves Vatican employees, residents and other eligible personnel directly linked to the Holy See’s institutions.
However, many consecrated religious and missionaries have never fallen within those eligibility criteria. Members of religious institutes often belong to communities that are legally and financially independent of Vatican employment structures, while missionaries frequently serve in countries where access to stable healthcare can be unpredictable and where they rely largely on the resources of their religious communities or local healthcare systems.
Although religious orders have historically sought to care for their members through their own networks and charitable support, access to preventive medicine, specialist treatment and long-term care has often varied considerably depending on location and financial resources.
The new agreement establishes a dedicated framework specifically tailored to these groups rather than attempting to extend the existing Health Insurance Fund itself.
RBHold is an Italian holding company with extensive experience in supplementary welfare systems, healthcare administration and insurance management. Through subsidiaries specialising in healthcare claims administration and technological services, the group has developed expertise in managing large-scale healthcare programmes and welfare systems.
The Futuro Salute ETS Foundation, by contrast, is a non-profit organisation dedicated to developing new models of welfare and healthcare based on solidarity. The foundation has previously collaborated with the Vatican on healthcare initiatives, including supporting the Directorate of Health and Hygiene through the donation of ambulances in 2024.
Although the agreement represents only the beginning of the initiative, it is an important development in the Governorate’s approach to welfare which will ensure that consecrated men and women, missionaries and other excluded groups are able to benefit from organised healthcare support through a system designed around their circumstances rather than their employment status.
