Hospital to Be Named After Pope's Brother

VATICAN CITY, JUNE 18, 2003 (Zenit.org).- John Paul II thanked the staff of the hospital where his brother worked and died, for their decision to name the medical center after him.

Edmund Wojtyla, nicknamed "Mundek," was born on Aug. 27, 1906, in Krakow. As a young doctor he practiced his profession at Powszechny Hospital in Bielsko-Biala.

When he visited Poland in 1983, the Pope recalled with emotion that on May 28, 1930, when he was 10 years old, he attended the ceremony at the School of Medicine of the old Jagiellonian University, which conferred a medical degree on his brother.

Edmund Wojtyla died of scarlet fever on Dec. 4, 1932, an illness he caught from a patient at the municipal hospital of Bielsko-Biala, a town less than an hour away from Wadowice. Edmund had worked at the hospital as a resident doctor since his graduation.

The hospital's doctors remembered Edmund's total dedication to his work, and his sense of humor. He often organized entertainment and told jokes to amuse the patients.

At the end of today's general audience, in St. Peter's Square, the Pope addressed "a special greeting to the staff of the Bielsko-Biala hospital in which my brother worked, and after whom you have chosen to name it. Thank you very much for this remembrance."

The Pope, born Karol Wojtyla, also had a sister, Olga, who died at a very early age.