Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago

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The Vatican has long defended children, mothers and families. That charism especially showed itself at the height of World War II. Several deadly bombings in Italy in 1944 left thousands of people without homes and pregnant women without proper care. The Holy See opened the doors of Castel Gandolfo to around 12,000 of those people in need, providing them with shelter, food and safety. Pope Pius XII also donated his private rooms to medical teams and expectant mothers; in the weeks that followed, several dozen children were born there. EWTN Vatican contributor Zofia Czubak speaks with a historian and one of the surviving children born at Castel Gandolfo who, not surprisingly, was named after the Holy Father.
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