Latest news with #Popemobiles
ABC News
05-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Pope Francis's popemobile to be converted into medical clinic for children in Gaza
One of Pope Francis's Popemobiles is being transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip, fulfilling one of the late pontiff's final wishes, according to the Vatican's official media outlet. The vehicle, used by Francis during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land, is being kitted out with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to help young patients in the Palestinian enclave. Pope Francis, who died last month, entrusted the initiative to the Catholic aid organisation Caritas Jerusalem in the months before his death, Vatican News said on Sunday. Pope Francis used the vehicle, seen here at the Vatican, during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land. ( Reuters: Stefano Rellandini ) "This is a concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed," Peter Brune, secretary-general of Caritas Sweden, which is supporting the project, told Vatican News. "With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare — children who are injured and malnourished." Photo shows A man in religious garb sitting in front of a red curtain, looking on As he glided around St Peter's Square in his Popemobile on Sunday, the fact he was 88 and had just spent several weeks in hospital somehow seemed a distant memory. Then everything changed. The open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of well-wishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza when a humanitarian corridor is opened. The mobile unit will be equipped with rapid infection tests, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and suture kits, and staffed by medical personnel. Caritas plans to deploy the clinic to communities without access to functioning healthcare facilities once humanitarian access to Gaza is feasible. "It's not just a vehicle," Mr Brune added. " It's a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza. " Gaza has a tiny Christian community and the Vatican has said Francis used to call the Holy Family Church in Gaza on an almost daily basis for much of the war, which started in October 2023 when Hamas militants launched the October 7 attack. Francis had a number of Popemobiles, with the converted Mitsubishi used in the 2014 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories staying in the region following his return to the Vatican. "This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis," Anton Asfar, the secretary-general of Caritas Jerusalem, said. A conclave to elect a new pope Israel resumed major operations across Gaza on March 18 amid political deadlock over how to build on a two-month ceasefire in its war against Hamas. On Monday, Israeli officials claimed that the nation's security cabinet had The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said on Sunday that at least 2,436 people had been killed since Israel resumed operations on March 18, bringing its overall death toll from the war to 52,535. Hamas's attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to tallies based on official figures. AFP/Reuters
South China Morning Post
05-05-2025
- Automotive
- South China Morning Post
Pope Francis donated a Popemobile to serve as mobile clinic for Gazan children
Before his death, Pope Francis donated one of his Popemobiles to be converted into a children's clinic in war-torn Gaza, Catholic charity Caritas said on Monday. Advertisement The iconic open-sided vehicle, designed to allow the pontiff to greet crowds of well-wishers, has been transferred to Caritas Jerusalem and will head to Gaza if and when Israel opens a humanitarian corridor. The car, a converted Mitsubishi, was used by the pope during a 2014 visit to Bethlehem, West Bank, and had since been on display, gathering dust and rust. It has now been repaired and refurbished as a mobile clinic. 'With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare – children who are injured and malnourished,' said Peter Brune, secretary general of Caritas Sweden. Brune said Sweden's Cardinal Anders Arborelius had asked the late pope, who died on April 21 aged 88, that the spare vehicle be put to use providing essential frontline healthcare to Palestinian children. Advertisement It will be fitted with medical equipment and a fridge for medicines and be assigned a driver and a team of doctors.
