Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Gaza’s Christians and Hamas leadership are calling on the new Pope Leo XIV to continue the “peace efforts” of Pope Francis, according to Arab News.
After the Vatican announced the election of a new pope, the President Abbas sent “best wishes for the success of Pope Leo XIV in the pursuit of his noble task and maintaining the legacy of the late Pope Francis.”
In a surprise choice, Cardinal Robert Prevost has become the new head of the Catholic Church and the first US pope. He also took the name Leo XIV.
The tiny Christian community in Gaza expressed delight about the election of a new leader of the Catholic Church.
“We are happy about the election of the Pope … We hope that his heart will remain with Gaza like Pope Francis,” George Antone, 44, head of the emergency committee at the Holy Family Church in Gaza, told Reuters.
Pope Francis
Gaza is a home to 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.
The Vatican’s official media revealed that one of Pope Francis’s popemobiles is being transformed into a mobile health clinic for children in Gaza, according to BBC.
The step comes as a response to one of the Pope’s final wishes before his demise.
The late pontiff used this vehicle during his 2014 visit to the Holy Land.
Currently, the vehicle is being equipped with diagnostic and emergency medical equipment to help young patients in Gaza.
During the months before his death, Pope Francis entrusted the initiative to the Catholic aid organization Caritas Jerusalem, according to Vatican News.
“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, said.
Importantly, the mobile unit will feature medical personnel, rapid infection tests, vaccines, diagnostic tools, and suture kits.
“It’s not just a vehicle. It’s a message that the world has not forgotten about the children in Gaza,” Brune added.
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Pope Francis Passes away at 88, Vatican Says
Pope: Negotiated Peace Better Than Endless War
