Pope Francis’s popemobile set to change into well being clinic for Gaza kids

CNN
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One in all Pope Francis’s “popemobiles” is being reworked right into a cellular healthcare unit for kids and despatched to the Gaza Strip, the Vatican’s official media outlet mentioned on Sunday.

In one among his ultimate needs earlier than his passing, Francis entrusted the popemobile used throughout his 2014 pilgrimage of the Holy Lands to the Catholic assist community Caritas Jerusalem, Vatican Information mentioned, to assist reply to the dire humanitarian state of affairs in Gaza.

Francis requested that the car be used to assist injured and malnourished kids within the war-torn Palestinian enclave.

Caritas are changing the car right into a cellular well being station by retrofitting it with medical tools for analysis, examination, and remedy of youngsters, and different life-saving provides.

Staffed with medical doctors and medics the brand new clinic on wheels shall be despatched to communities that lack entry to functioning healthcare amenities, as soon as secure entry to Gaza is possible, Caritas mentioned.

“It’s not only a car, it’s a message that the world has not forgotten concerning the kids in Gaza,” Peter Brune, secretary common of Caritas Sweden, mentioned in a press release.

World peace was a core message all through Francis’ hold forth, with him having referred to as for ceasefires of each the Russia-Ukraine and Israel-Hamas wars on a number of events, the ultimate of which was on Easter Sunday – the day earlier than his dying.

Francis had been making near-nightly calls to the Holy Household Church – Gaza’s solely Catholic church – which had been serving as a de facto shelter for its group of worshippers and a few Muslims all through Israeli navy campaigns that adopted the October 7, 2023, assaults on Israel by Hamas.

He had additionally controversially put in a Nativity scene throughout Christmas festivities depicting a child Jesus swaddled in a keffiyeh, a standard Palestinian garment now closely related to pro-Palestine actions and activism, which the Vatican faraway from show shortly after it was placed on show.