The Vatican Has Revealed That Pope Francis' Final Wish Was To Turn The Popemobile Into A Mobile Clinic For Gaza Children
The popemobile that Francis had used during his visit to Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014 has now been transformed into a mobile health clinic for the children of Gaza.
The Vatican has revealed that Pope Francis requested that his popemobile be transformed into a mobile health clinic for the children of Gaza as his final wish before he died.
Throughout his lifetime, especially in his later years, Francis openly condemned Israel's genocide on Gaza on several occasions, calling its actions "terrorism" and "cruelty, not war."
He also made daily calls to a church in Gaza every evening for 15 months since Oct. 9, 2023, two days after Israel began its genocide in Gaza, even while he was hospitalized for months for double pneumonia.
A day before his death, during his final address on Easter Sunday on April 20, Francis also took the opportunity to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.
"I think of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation," he had said. "I appeal to the warring parties: call a ceasefire, release the hostages and come to the aid of a starving people that aspires to a future of peace."
The popemobile that Francis had used during his visit to Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014 has now been outfitted with equipment for diagnosis, examination and treatment with the help of charity Caritas Jerusalem, which the pope entrusted with the project.
Caritas said in a statement that the mobile clinic will be run by a team of doctors and will have a dedicated driver.
It will also be equipped with everything needed for frontline care, including rapid tests, suture kits, syringes, oxygen supplies, vaccines and a small fridge for storing medicines.
The vehicle is now in Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and will enter Gaza when Israel stops its full blockade on the strip, which it began on March 2 when it refused to proceed with the ceasefire deal.
"With the vehicle, we will be able to reach children who today have no access to health care – children who are injured and malnourished," Caritas said, adding that it is a "concrete, life-saving intervention at a time when the health system in Gaza has almost completely collapsed.
Caritas said that the vehicle also sends a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza.
Since Israel began its genocide in Gaza, it has killed more than 61,700, Palestinians, including more than 17,900 children.
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