ROME: Shortly before his 88th birthday, the head of 1.4 billion Catholics is treating himself to a new set of wheels: a custom-made vehicle from Mercedes-Benz that for the first time drives without any harmful CO2 emissions.
Popes have been getting around in tailored cars for almost 100 years. But Pope Francis is now one of the first heads of state to make such a demonstrative break with the combustion engine.
What's more, the Vatican is set to become the first country in the world to have only electric cars by 2030.
The pope never tires of emphasising the importance of the environment and warning of climate change.
Although the German automotive industry is struggling to sell electric cars, Volkswagen's business with the Vatican has thrived in recent years, with VW delivering 40 CO2-neutral vehicles there this year.
Pope Francis' popemobile usually takes him across St Peter's Square once a week to allow the faithful to catch a glimpse of him. But popemobiles are also used when a pontiff goes on trips abroad.
The term was popularised by the Polish Pope John Paul II, who died in 2005 and who refused to be deterred from such trips even by an assassination attempt.
The new and fully electric popemobile is a development of Mercedes' electric G580 G-Class off-roader. With its specially designed transmission, it can also travel over longer distances at walking speed.
The pope sits at the back of the loading area on a raised chair that can be swivelled, enabling him to turn in any direction and wave. There's also a roof in case of bad weather.
The base colour is a papal pearl white, the floor a cardinal red. In addition, a supported entry has been developed for the ageing Pope Francis, who now uses a wheelchair for almost all of his appointments due to problems with his knees and hips.
Both sides are keeping quiet about the costs. But it can't have been cheap: The basic model of the electric SUV is available for around US$150,000 (RM665,000) and up.
This puts Pope Francis in a price range that is unusual for him, since, unlike most of his more recent predecessors, he has no interest in luxury cars.
On the contrary, the native of Argentina has, for example, been chauffeured around in a 30-year-old Renault 4 from a second-hand dealer – but at least it was pearl white. When he had to go to the hospital again last year, he arrived in a small Fiat.
By contrast, the popes' cars in previous decades were considerably larger.
Mercedes-Benz first made a limousine for the Vatican in 1930. The “Nürburg 460” of Pope Pius XI even had a padded throne upholstered in silk brocade.
His successors were also chauffeured in luxury cars, like other heads of state. In the 1980s, John Paul II became the first pope to use a dedicated popemobile. Since then, several dozen models have been produced by a wide range of manufacturers.
It is not known exactly how many cars the Vatican officials have in their fleet, but there can't be many.
Covering an area of just 0.44 square kilometres, the papal state is the smallest country in the world – roughly the size of Chicago's cemetery.
The Vatican also has no public transport – but it does have its own, albeit rarely used, train station.
Incidentally, the registration number of the Pope's cars is almost always the same: SCV 1.
The letters stand for "Status Civitatis Vaticanae" (Vatican City State), and the "1" for the head of state. However, some people in Rome read the abbreviation differently: "Se Cristo vedesse...", which translates as "If Christ could see this..."
