Papal charity point man driving to Ukraine for Christmas

KRAKOW, Poland (OSV News) -- For Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, driving home for Christmas means taking a different route each year. In 2024, he marks his second Christmas in war-torn Ukraine.

The prefect of the Dicastery for the Service of Charity began his ninth trip to Ukraine on Dec. 18. The journey aims to show solidarity with the country, where Russia launched its full scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

Cardinal Krajewski brought a medical vehicle to donate, but he emphasized that his main mission was simply "being there" to offer comfort to the people of Ukraine.

"It's presence that counts," at this point of war, Cardinal Krajewski told OSV News. "Everyone is tired of the war," both in Ukraine and in the West, he emphasized.

Pope Francis blessed the medical vehicle, which technically is a "small mobile hospital," Cardinal Krajewski said, on Dec. 18, before the papal point charity man started his 1,118-miles-journey from Rome to Lviv with the medical vehicle as its sole driver.

A large medical camper will be donated to Ukrainian medics and is adapted to specific needs of a country where hospitals are often damaged or non-accessible. Inside the mobile hospital, surgeries can be performed. Six ultrasound machines will also be donated to the destroyed and bombed hospitals.

"The vehicle is full of stuff, so it's a bit hard to drive it actually," Cardinal Krajewski said while on the road.

As Pope Francis gets ready to open the Jubilee Doors in St. Peter's Basilica on Dec. 24 at 7 p.m., Cardinal Krajewski said the Jubilee Year "opens the door of hope and such a visit on behalf of the Holy Father, who prays daily for the afflicted Ukraine, brings such hope that maybe soon those doors of hope will be opened in Ukraine."

Pope Francis "wants to be present" among Ukrainians "in these days when we will celebrate the Birth of Jesus," Dec. 19 press release from the Holy See said.

During his journey through Ukraine, Cardinal Krajewski will visit "various communities to meet with people who are suffering, and with them he will try to open the 'door of Hope' in their hearts and pray for the peace so much desired," the statement said.

The cardinal spent Christmas 2022 in Ukraine, bringing humanitarian aid and warm clothes for civilians and soldiers. In 2023, he made a trip to the Holy Land.

“Peace is our greatest desire, yes," he said in the war-torn land of Jesus in 2023. "But if we don’t have peace inside us, and if we don’t decide to make peace in our communities, in our families, there will be no outside peace."