One of Pope Francis’s final wishes was for his popemobile to be sent to Gaza

Pope Francis waves from the popemobile as he rides along the Copacabana beachfront on his way to celebrate mass for World Youth Day, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Sunday, July 28, 2013. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo, File) - (Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

A popemobile used by Pope Francis during his 2014 Holy Land visit is getting a new life as a mobile health clinic for children in the Gaza Strip.

The Vatican announced the initiative on Sunday, describing it as fulfilling one of the late pontiff's final wishes.

The vehicle is currently being equipped with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to serve young patients in the Palestinian enclave. Gaza's healthcare system has been severely impacted by the recent Israeli invasion, making this mobile clinic a much-needed resource.

The vehicle is being outfitted with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to help young patients in the Palestinian enclave, where health services have been devastated by the Israeli invasion.

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.

Pope Francis tours St Peter’s Square in his popemobile after bestowing the Urbi et Orbi (Latin for to the city and to the world) blessing at the end of the Easter mass in St Peter’s Square at the Vatican on Sunday (Andrew Medichini/AP) (AP)

"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.

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," 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 attacked southern Israel.

Francis had a number of popemobiles, with the one used in the 2014 visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories staying in the region following his return to the Vatican.

A conclave to elect a new pope starts on May 7.

The process of electing a new Pope is shrouded in secrecy, with cardinals forbidden from communicating with the outside world what happens in the conclave, which takes place within the frescoed walls of the Sistine Chapel.