Pope Francis’s “pope-mobile,” originally used during his 2014 trip to the Holy Land, is being transformed into a mobile clinic for children in Gaza, fulfilling what Caritas Jerusalem says was the late Pope’s wish.
The Catholic organization announced the conversion on Sunday.
According to a press release, the Pope requested in his final months that the vehicle be repurposed into a mobile health unit for children in Gaza.
Caritas Jerusalem stated the initiative aims to protect the fundamental rights and dignity of children, and shared the first images of the converted vehicle.
Peter Brune, Secretary General of Caritas Sweden, a supporter of the project, said the mobile clinic “will be able to reach children who today have no access to healthcare – children who are injured and malnourished.”
Brune added, “This is concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed,” emphasizing that the vehicle symbolizes the world’s continued concern for Gazan children.
Secretary General of Caritas Jerusalem Anton Asfar stated, “The vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis.”
Swedish Cardinal Anders Arborelius, a potential successor to Pope Francis, also confirmed the “pope-mobile’s” new purpose.
Arborelius wrote, “The papamobile is a very concrete sign that Pope Francis is concerned with all the suffering of children in Gaza, even after his death!”
Notably, the same Catholic charity involved in the “pope-mobile” project previously criticized the Trump administration’s cuts to USAID funding.
Caritas Internationalis Secretary General Alistair Dutton stated that halting USAID funding would cause immense suffering and pose significant challenges for the global humanitarian community.
The State Department has absorbed USAID’s remaining functions as part of a major restructuring.
According to reports, Francis approved the project in November 2024. In December, the Catholic Church received a new, all-electric “pope-mobile” based on the Mercedes-Benz G-Class SUV.
Vatican News, the official news source of the Vatican, also reported the announcement. The vehicle will be staffed “by a driver and medical doctors” and equipped with diagnostic, examination, and treatment tools, including rapid infection tests, suture kits, syringes, needles, oxygen, vaccines, and a medicine refrigerator, according to Caritas Jerusalem.
Caritas Jerusalem emphasized the critical humanitarian situation in Gaza, particularly for the nearly one million displaced children, stating that limited access to food, water, and healthcare disproportionately affects children, putting them at risk of starvation, infection, and other preventable conditions.
Caritas Jerusalem reports that Francis made his “pope-mobile” available before his death, and now, “When the humanitarian corridor to Gaza reopens, it will be ready to give primary healthcare to children in Gaza.”
Francis had consistently called for a ceasefire in Gaza following the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas, where over 1,200 Israelis were killed and hundreds taken hostage.
The late Pope increasingly voiced his condemnation of the Israeli military’s response and the deaths of Palestinian children.
In his final Easter address, Francis described the humanitarian situation as “dramatic and deplorable.”
He expressed his closeness to the suffering of both Israelis and Palestinians, appealing for a ceasefire, the release of hostages, and aid for the starving population, as read by an aide.
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