Pope Francis bequeathed one of his popemobiles to the Gaza Strip, to be repurposed to a mobile health clinic for children, Vatican media reported on Sunday.
The popemobile, which was used by the pontiff during his visit to the Palestinian Authority territories in Judea and Samaria in 2014, will carry vaccines, suture kits, rapid tests for infections and other life-saving supplies, the Vatican News reported.
The head of the Catholic Church made it one of his last wishes in the months before he died, the report added.
The pope, who died on April 21, entrusted the modification of the vehicle and handling of its shipment to Gaza to Catholic aid organization Caritas Jerusalem.
The converted vehicle will be staffed by doctors and paramedics, reaching Gazan children once humanitarian access to the Strip is restored, the Vatican News reported.
“This is a concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed,” Secretary-General of Caritas Sweden Peter Brune was cited as saying.
“With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to health care—children who are injured and malnourished,” he added.
The popemobile is “a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza,” Brune said.
According to Vatican News, Caritas Jerusalem is tasked with manning the vehicle, “building on the Pope’s legacy of compassion and strength whilst bringing his final blessing to the people of Gaza.”
Anton Asfar, secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem, said, “This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis.”
Francis voiced scathing criticism of Israel during the Swords of Iron war in Gaza, which was initiated by thousands of Hamas-led terrorists who invaded the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023, murdered 1,200 people and abducted 251 more into the Palestinian enclave.
“And with pain, I think of Gaza, of so much cruelty, of the children being machine-gunned, of the bombings of schools and hospitals. What cruelty,” the pontiff said after a prayer service in December 2024.
Francis further drew a rebuke from the Israeli government after he accused the Israel Defense Forces of attacking babies in Gaza. “This is cruelty,” the head of the Catholic Church said. “This is not war.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry stated at the time, “In response to the pope’s statement today: Cruelty is terrorists hiding behind children while trying to murder Israeli children. Cruelty is holding 100 hostages for 442 days, including a baby and children, by terrorists, and abusing them.”
Francis “unfortunately” opted “to ignore all of this, as well as the fact that Israel’s actions have targeted terrorists who used children as human shields,” the Israeli government said.
In the wake of the pope’s death, an Israeli official, who spoke to JNS on condition of anonymity citing diplomatic protocol, pushed back against claims that official Israel was muting its reaction to the news.
“The issues we had with the late pope, of blessed memory, we are not going to air out after his passing, and it didn’t prevent an Israeli acknowledgment at the highest levels of his passing,” the official said.
