Pope Francis has donated to Ukraine four ambulances that will be deployed in hardest-hit areas in a concrete gesture of his closeness and concern for those suffering the devastating effects of the war there. The vehicles bear the Vatican’s coat of arms.

According to the Dicastery for the Service of Charity on Monday, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, papal almoner, will be responsible for delivering the ambulances, which are in addition to the medical equipment that has been donated in the past.

On other occasions, the Pope has blessed the ambulances before the trip, but the Holy See Press Office did not specify if he did so this time.

“The Holy Father has decided to send his eminence to Ukraine again to donate four ambulances, equipped with all the necessary medical equipment to save lives, which will be deployed in war zones,” the statement read.

Cardinal Krajewski will be assisted by three other drivers from Ukraine during his trip, which will include visits to areas where there is active fighting. The cardinal is also traveling to the country “to be with the people so tested by the conflict, to pray with them, and to be an expression of the Pope’s closeness,” the Vatican reported.

The Polish cardinal, who since 2013 has been papal almoner, the person in charge of carrying out charitable works in the name of the Holy Father, has already visited the country more than a dozen times since the outbreak of the war in 2022.

The press release quotes Pope Francis from his Easter Day 2024 urbi et orbi message: Only Jesus “opens the doors to life,” the Pope said, “those very doors we keep shutting with the wars spreading throughout the world.”

For the Vatican, the Pope’s words “become action to break down the barriers and bring the Easter light into the shadows of darkness.”

The Pontiff’s donation comes at “this time of Easter rebirth,” in which the Pope wanted to make “a gesture of closeness in one of the most painful places where war has been raging for three years: tormented Ukraine.”

“Three years that for the Holy Father are a ‘painful and shameful anniversary for humanity.’ Pope Francis always remembers the Eastern European country, both in the Angelus prayer and in his appeals for peace, which constantly refer to other dramatic situations such as in Palestine, Israel, Myanmar, Kivu, and Sudan,” the statement reads. “The gift of the four ambulances thus becomes a sign of jubilee hope anchored in Christ.”

Last Friday, in a new diplomatic effort between the Vatican and Russia, Archbishop Paul Richard Gallagher, the Holy See’s secretary for relations with states and international organizations, telephoned Sergei Lavrov, minister of foreign affairs of the Russian Federation.

The Holy See Press Office stated that the conversation focused on “the overall picture of world politics,” with “particular attention to the situation of the war in Ukraine” and “some initiatives aimed at stopping the military actions.”

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.