Treating the whole person: First Catholic medical school in UK plans to open in 2026

St. Mary University in London has announced plans to open a modern pro-life medical school in 2026 — the first Catholic medical school in the United Kingdom. 

Since its inception in 1850, the school has pursued a “distinctive Catholic identity” with a goal to “develop the whole person and empower our community to have a positive impact on the world.” To that end, it intends to establish a “forward-thinking centre of medical training” that will “contribute to the workforce development demands in the UK for more doctors and medical professionals, but it will also train global professionals able to work anywhere in the world.” Training medical professionals with the best practices to treat the whole person, including preborn children, is desperately needed.

According to the World Health Organization, there is a critical and alarming deficit of medical professionals, including midwives. Approximately 4.3 million doctors and nurses were needed as of 2014 to meet the existing medical needs of a global population. The crisis is especially dire where there are insufficient human resources to meet even basic needs. According to the study, there were 57 countries that failed to meet minimum workforce criteria. A shortage of doctors is not just an international problem; the United States was predicted to have a shortage of 85,000 doctors by 2020 and 260,000 nurses by 2025, undoubtedly exacerbated by COVID.

READ: PBS slams Catholic hospitals for refusing to intentionally kill preborn children

The announcement by St. Mary University follows a recent announcement that Catholic Healthcare International (CHI) will utilize the former campus of Trinity Healthcare to establish a School of Osteopathic Medicine as well as “outpatient and rehabilitative medicine, an embryo orphanage, a birthing unit, family practice, and the Terri Schiavo Home for the Brain Injured.”

According to a press release from Catholic Healthcare International, founder Jere Palazzolo stated, “St. Pio’s charism of care will bring healing to the body, mind and spirit of the patients served by the St. Pio physicians who will be trained at what will be the Nation’s most faithful Catholic Medical School.”

Editor’s Note, 11/8/24: This article has been updated with the most recent information available regarding Catholic Healthcare International’s plans in the U.S. We regret that the previous version contained out-of-date information.

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