Pope Francis has a new set of wheels to roll around the Vatican – and it’s an electric G-Wagon made especially for His Holiness.
The Popemobile was designed with a rotating, heated seat and backrest for the Holy Father and was delivered to him this week.
The white vehicle, built by Mercedes-Benz, is the first fully electric Popemobile and also has a special place for the Swiss Guard to protect the Pope – who turns 88 on December 17.
Moreover, the modified G-Wagon not only looks great, it is also environmentally friendly – a matter close to the Pope’s heart.
The new engine not only has heating compartments to keep His Holiness warm as he greets Catholic pilgrims on cold winter days in St. Peter’s Square, but also a retractable roof that will protect Pope Francis from the elements.
And of course, the seat has been raised so that the public has a better chance to catch a glimpse of the Pope as he drives by on his new wheels.
Two white and yellow Vatican flags fly on either side of the bonnet of the Mercedes G-Class and the license plate is SCV1 – which stands for Status Civitatis Vaticanae, Latin for Vatican City.
The pearly white popemobile is powered by an electric motor that is “adapted to the particularly low speeds required for public appearances” by the pope, Mercedes said.
The white vehicle, built by Mercedes-Benz, is the first fully electric Popemobile and also has a special place for the Swiss Guard to protect the Pope
The choice of an electric vehicle is in line with Pope Francis’ concern for the environment and global efforts to tackle the climate crisis
The new engine comes with a new rotating, heated seat and backrest
CEO Ola Kallenius and engineers working on the special project personally presented Pope Francis with the custom-made vehicle at the Vatican.
Producing cars for the papacy was a “special honor for our company,” Kallenius said.
The Stuttgart-based automaker has supplied the Vatican with popemobiles for the past 45 years, according to the company.
The move to electric popemobiles was in line with Francis’ move to make the environment one of the key issues of his papacy since becoming pope in 2013.
The Pope made an urgent call for climate action in his 2015 encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, urging global solidarity to act together to protect ‘our common home’.
Francis updated his groundbreaking statement in 2023 when he criticized slow climate action, then became the first pope to personally attend United Nations climate talks.
Last month its environmental record was called into question when it emerged that a 200-year-old pine tree growing in a forest in northern Italy would be cut down and given to the Vatican as a Christmas tree.
A petition calling for the preservation of the more than 30-meter-high pine tree, nicknamed The Green Giant, was signed by more than 53,000 people.
Francis updated his groundbreaking statement in 2023 when he criticized slow climate action, then became the first pope to personally attend United Nations climate talks
The pearly white popemobile is powered by an electric motor that is “adapted to the particularly low speeds required for public appearances” by the pope, Mercedes said.
CEO Ola Kallenius and engineers working on the special project personally presented Pope Francis with the custom-made vehicle at the Vatican
The new bike also has a retractable roof that protects it from the elements
Campaigners said felling such an ancient tree was contrary to the Pope’s pleas to protect the environment.
But the tree was cut down and transported from the northern region of Trentino to Rome, where it was placed in St. Peter’s Square.
A senior Vatican official insisted that cutting down the tree was “environmentally responsible.”
The Mercedes Popemobile is not the first electric vehicle used by the Vatican.
In 2012, the French car manufacturer Renault presented Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, an electric passenger car.
Earlier this year, the pontiff was seen struggling to get onto his last popemobile after an audience at the Vatican, as persistent breathing and mobility problems continued to affect the 87-year-old pontiff.
The event took place outside for the first time in March on a fresh St. Peter’s Square. Francis had an assistant read his catechism lesson, as he had done the previous days.
The week before, Francis went to the hospital in Rome for unspecified diagnostic tests, the results of which have not been released.
He has suffered off and on this winter with what he and the Vatican believe were colds, bouts of bronchitis and flu.
Late last year, Francis underwent a CAT scan that ruled out pneumonia, but the pope was still forced to cancel a trip to the Gulf due to acute infectious bronchitis.
The Argentine pope had part of a lung removed as a young man due to a respiratory infection, and he often speaks in whispers even when he is not ill.
In 2021, he had a piece of his colon removed and last year he had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue.