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Just outside the Vatican, tourists, pilgrims, and visiting religious communities were given the opportunity to learn CPR to the disco anthem “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees. Held near the entrance to the Vatican Museums, volunteers in red shirts used the song's 103 beats per minute to guide participants through chest compressions during an American Heart Association (AHA) open training event.
This event was part of the programming for the Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers on April 5, with more than 20,000 pilgrims expected to attend from over 90 countries. The training aimed to teach emergency resuscitation to attendees, with events throughout Rome culminating in a Mass at St. Peter’s Square on April 6.
Marida Straccia, the global training organizer with the AHA, emphasized the importance of learning CPR: “Pilgrims that are passing by can learn, in just a few minutes, how to save a life.” She noted that a significant portion of cardiac arrests happen outside hospitals: "It doesn’t matter if you’re a layperson, a priest...knowing what to do, even just how to call for help, it makes a difference in somebody’s life.”
Visitors like Harim Lee from Los Angeles, who was accompanied by her daughter, found the session unexpectedly beneficial. “I had no idea I’d be learning CPR,” she said, stressing the importance of everyone being informed on how to perform CPR.
Alessia Cambela of the AHA saw a range of participants, including religious sisters eager to learn. “Religious nuns asked us to teach them how to perform CPR and I think it’s great,” Cambela stated. Sister Maria José de Mesquita of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Anne highlighted the importance of CPR for all, saying, it’s essential for pilgrims at the Holy Door of St. Peter’s Basilica to stop and learn, “because we don’t know if at any time we will need to help someone.”
With Pope Francis unable to attend several Jubilee events due to respiratory infections, this year’s Jubilee of the Sick and Health Care Workers carries an added significance. Sister Maria José de Mesquita commented, “The pope, having had the experience of this illness, it certainly brings him closer to those living through experiences of pain and distress in their lives.”
