Pope Francis' Popemobile to Ride Again as Health Clinic on Wheels in Gaza

When Pope Francis visited Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014, he criss-crossed the traditional birthplace of Jesus in a white popemobile manufactured especially for his visit.

- Adam Rasgon

JERUSALEM - When Pope Francis visited Bethlehem in the Israeli-occupied West Bank in 2014, he criss-crossed the traditional birthplace of Jesus in a white popemobile manufactured especially for his visit.

Now, the vehicle is being transformed into a mobile health clinic to treat ill and wounded Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip – an initiative that the Pope blessed in the months before he died.

Although the clinic will serve only a limited number of Palestinians in Gaza, Pope Francis' personal involvement in the project reflected his commitment to Palestinian civilians caught in the crossfire between Israel and Hamas, particularly children, in more than 18 months of war.

"The papamobile is a very concrete sign that Pope Francis is concerned with all the suffering of children in Gaza, even after his death," Cardinal Anders Arborelius of Sweden said in an e-mail on April 28.

The idea to recreate the popemobile as a health clinic came from leaders of Caritas, a Catholic organization, and Cardinal Arborelius approached Pope Francis with it. The Swedish cardinal is a contender to become the next pope after Francis, who died on April 21.