VATICAN CITY — Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his popemobiles to be converted into a mobile clinic to assist the children of Gaza, one of the communities most affected by the war and humanitarian crisis in that region.
As Peter Brune, secretary-general of Caritas Sweden and one of the project’s driving forces, explained to ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, it is the popemobile the pontiff used during his visit to Bethlehem in May 2014 during his historic trip to the Holy Land. “Since then, the vehicle has been on display in a public square in the Palestinian city,” he said.
“The popemobile has been refurbished and upgraded to fulfill a new and hopeful mission: to provide medical assistance to injured and malnourished children who currently have no access to any type of health care,” Brune explained.
The initiative was personally entrusted by the pope to Caritas Jerusalem in the final months of his life to respond to the extremely serious humanitarian emergency in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of displaced children live without access to food, clean water, or basic medical care amid the Hamas conflict with Israel.
With the new name of “Vehicle of Hope,” the former popemobile is being equipped with basic medical equipment: rapid diagnostic kits, suture materials, syringes, vaccines, oxygen, refrigerated medications, and other vital supplies.
The clinic will be operated by drivers and trained medical staff from Caritas Jerusalem, an organization with extensive experience in the region.
“This is a concrete, lifesaving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has virtually collapsed,” Brune emphasized.
The mobile pediatric clinic can be deployed in the Palestinian territory as soon as humanitarian access is restored, with the mission of “providing basic care in the most isolated areas and reminding the world that children’s rights and dignity must always be protected,” Brune explained.
“It is not just a medical tool but a symbol that the world has not forgotten the children of Gaza,” Brune added.
For his part, in a statement, Caritas Jerusalem Secretary-General Anton Asfar said the vehicle donated by Pope Francis represents “the love, care, and closeness that His Holiness showed toward the most vulnerable throughout the crisis.”
The last time Pope Francis rode in a popemobile was on Sunday, April 20, just one day before his death. Despite his delicate health, he chose to move about St. Peter’s Square one last time to greet the faithful after giving his “urbi et orbi” blessing. During that emotional tour, he asked to stop the vehicle several times to bless a child with cancer and several babies.
By Victoria Cardiel
Catholic News Agency
This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.
