By Charles Igwe
The Vatican has announced the opening of a war trauma rehabilitation center in Ukraine named after St. John Paul II. Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner and prefect of the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Service of Charity, will travel to Ukraine to inaugurate the clinic on behalf of Pope Francis.
Cardinal Krajewski will also personally deliver an ambulance filled with medical supplies, donated by Pope Francis, to aid the wounded in Ukraine’s Ternopil region. According to a statement from the Vatican’s charity dicastery on June 24, the Ternopil region is experiencing a continuous influx of convoys carrying civilians and soldiers fleeing the intense hostilities near the Russian border. The donated ambulance will support relief workers in treating the injured.
This marks Krajewski’s eighth trip to Ukraine since the outbreak of the war. On a previous trip, he was shot at while delivering humanitarian aid near Zaporizhzhia.
The St. John Paul II Rehabilitation Center, located in Vinnytsia in the Diocese of Kamyanets-Podilskyy, will offer physical and psychological rehabilitation for soldiers and their families affected by war trauma. Funded by contributions from the Papal Foundation and Aid to the Church in Need, the clinic will be open to all, regardless of faith, nationality, or exclusion, in accordance with Pope Francis’ wishes.
Pope Francis has previously donated two other ambulances that are being used to provide medical assistance and humanitarian relief in other parts of Ukraine.
