Pope Francis uttered a final wish: that his popemobile be adapted into a mobile health unit for the children of Gaza.
In his final months, the Pope entrusted the initiative to Caritas Jerusalem, which has around a hundred staff members.
“This vehicle represents the love, care and closeness shown by His Holiness for the most vulnerable, which he expressed throughout the crisis,” says Anton Asfar, Secretary General of Caritas Jerusalem.
Nearly one million children have been displaced. Amid the horrific war, collapsed infrastructure, a mutilated healthcare system and lack of education, children are the first to pay the price, with starvation, infections and other preventable conditions putting their lives at risk”, points out the Vatican.
Francis stated that “Children are not numbers. They are faces. Names. Stories. And each one is sacred”.
The repurposed popemobile will include rapid tests for infections, diagnostic instruments, vaccines, suture kits, and other life-saving supplies.
It will be staffed by doctors, and reach even isolated parts of Gaza, where children are not only injured but particularly malnourished.
The health system in Gaza is presently in shambles.
