Lodovico Montini, head of Democrazia Cristiana, and his brother Giovanni Battista Montini (later Pope Paul VI) facilitated engagement by UNRRA. The hospital was initially to be named "Fiorello LaGuardia", but eventually presented as the work of Pio himself. The Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza () opened in 1956. Pio handed direct control to the Holy See. However, in order that Pio might directly supervise the project, Pope Pius XII granted him a dispensation from his vow of poverty in 1957. Some of Pio's detractors have subsequently suggested there had been misappropriation of funds.
