Pope Francis’ popemobile will serve as a medical facility for children in Gaza

The Vatican’s official media agency announced on Sunday that one of Pope Francis’s last requests is being fulfilled by converting one of his popemobiles into a mobile health clinic for kids in the Gaza Strip.

To assist young patients in the Palestinian enclave, where health services have been severely damaged by the Israeli assault, the late pope’s car, which he drove during his 2014 trip to the Holy Land, is being equipped with emergency and diagnostic medical equipment.

In the months leading up to his passing, Pope Francis, who passed away last month, gave the project to the Catholic charity Caritas Jerusalem, according to Vatican News.

Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, the organization funding the project, told Vatican News, “This is a concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed.”

The mobile unit will be manned by medical professionals and furnished with fast infection tests, immunizations, diagnostic equipment, and suture kits. As soon as humanitarian access to Gaza is possible, Caritas intends to move the clinic to areas lacking access to operational medical facilities.

Brune went on, “It’s not just a vehicle,” “It’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.”

The Vatican claims that during a large portion of the conflict, which began in October 2023 when Hamas militants assaulted southern Israel, Francis used to phone the Holy Family Church in Gaza virtually every day. Gaza has a small Christian community.

One of Francis’s many popemobiles remained in the area after his return to the Vatican, including the one he used during his 2014 tour of Israel and the Palestinian Territories.