A priest has helped the Polish-Scottish community in Edinburgh raise funds to buy a car for a children’s hospice in Columbia.
Fr Piotr Krakowiak SAC, of SS Ninian & Triduana Parish in Restalrig, coordinated fundraising efforts that will enable staff at John Paul II & Carlo Acutis Pediatric Hospice in Medellín reach seriously ill children cared for at home.
He travelled to Columbia recently for the official handover of the Suzuki Swift calling it “our shared gift of hope”.
Fr Piotr (above) said: “We raised over £15,000, making it possible to purchase the first car for the first children’s hospice in Medellín, helping volunteers reach seriously ill children and bring them to treatment and rehabilitation.
“Thank you to everyone who contributed, especially the leaders of the international picnics in 2025, the Scouts, the One World Group, the Open Door charity group, and all individual donors from the UK and from the US.
“God knows every gift and every generous heart.”
Fr Piotr is a member of the Society of the Catholic Apostolate, better-known as The Pallotines. He is pictured above with Fr Mariusz Mąka, SAC, and a team of volunteers at the hospice.
The Society’s website wrote: “His involvement reflects not only pastoral commitment but also concrete missionary solidarity.
“The gift stands as a visible sign of international cooperation within the Pallottine family and of the Church’s shared responsibility for the most vulnerable.
“Thanks to the generosity of the Polish-Scottish faithful and the dedication of Fr Piotr, the Gospel of mercy is being carried — quite literally — to children and families in need.”
