One of Pope Francis’s popemobiles is being converted into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling one of the late pontiff’s final wishes, the Vatican’s official news outlet reported on Sunday.
The vehicle—originally used during Francis’s 2014 visit to the Holy Land—is being equipped with emergency and diagnostic medical tools to treat young patients in Gaza, where healthcare infrastructure has been critically damaged by the ongoing Israeli invasion.
According to Vatican News, Pope Francis entrusted the initiative to Caritas Jerusalem in the final months of his life. The late pontiff passed away last month.
Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, which is backing the project, described it as a “concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed.”
The mobile clinic will include rapid infection tests, vaccines, diagnostic equipment, and suture kits, and will be staffed by healthcare workers. Caritas intends to deploy the unit to areas lacking functional healthcare services once humanitarian access becomes possible.
“It’s not just a vehicle,” Brune emphasized. “It’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.”
Although Gaza is home to a very small Christian population, the Vatican noted that Pope Francis frequently called the Holy Family Church in Gaza throughout much of the war, which began in October 2023 when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel.
The popemobile, which remained in the region after the pope’s 2014 visit, is now being repurposed for this humanitarian mission. Meanwhile, preparations are underway for the conclave to elect a new pope on May 7.
