Pope Francis has a new set of wheels to roll around the Vatican – and it’s an electric G-Wagon made specifically for His Holiness.Â
The popemobile was designed to have a rotating heated seat and handrail for the Holy Father, and was delivered to him this week.Â
The white vehicle, which is the first fully electric popemobile built by Mercedes-Benz, includes a special place for the Swiss Guards to stand and protect the pontiff. This innovative vehicle marks a new chapter in the development of popemobiles. Pope Francis, who celebrates his 88th birthday on December 17, will now have a modern and eco-friendly mode of transportation.
Plus, the modified G-Wagon doesn’t just look great, it’s environmentally friendly – a cause close to the Pope’s heart.Â
Apart from the Swiss Guards’ designated area, the popemobile features heating compartments to ensure the pontiff stays warm while meeting with Catholic pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square during the cold winter days. Additionally, the vehicle boasts a retractable roof, offering protection to Pope Francis from various weather conditions.
The popemobile’s seat has been strategically elevated to provide better visibility to the crowds, giving them an enhanced opportunity to catch a glimpse of the pontiff as he passes by in his new electric vehicle. This advancement in the design of the popemobile aims to provide both functionality and security for Pope Francis during his public appearances.
Two white-and-yellow Vatican flags fly on either side of the Mercedes G-Class bonnet and its registration plate is SCV1 – standing for Status Civitatis Vaticanae, Latin for Vatican City State.
The pearl-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.
Built by Mercedes-Benz, the white vehicle is the first fully electric popemobile and also has a special place for the Swiss Guards to stand to protect the pontiff
The choice of an electric vehicle is in keeping with Pope Francis’s concern for the environment and global efforts to tackle the climate crisis
The new motor comes with a new rotating heated seat and handrail
Chief executive Ola Kallenius and engineers working on the special project presented Pope Francis with the custom-made vehicle in person at the Vatican.
Producing cars for the papacy was a ‘special honour 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 switch to electric popemobiles was in keeping with Francis’s move to make the environment one of the main themes of his papacy since becoming pontiff in 2013.
The Pope made an urgent appeal for climate action in his 2015 encyclical ‘Laudato Si’, in which he urged global solidarity to act together to protect ‘our common home’.
Francis updated his landmark thesis in 2023 when he criticised slow climate action, and then became the first pope to attend the United Nations climate talks in person.
Last month, his environmental credentials were called into question when it emerged that a 200-year-old pine growing in a forest in northern Italy was to be cut down and given as a Christmas tree to the Vatican.
A petition calling for the 100ft-tall conifer, nicknamed The Green Giant, to be spared was signed by more than 53,000 people.
Francis updated his landmark thesis in 2023 when he criticised slow climate action, and then became the first pope to attend the United Nations climate talks in person
The pearl-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
Chief executive Ola Kallenius and engineers working on the special project presented Pope Francis with the custom-made vehicle in person at the Vatican
The new motor also has a retractable roof which will protect him from the elements
Campaigners said that cutting down such an old tree ran counter to the Pope’s pleas to protect the environment.
But the tree was cut down and transported from the northern Trentino region to Rome, where it was erected in St Peter’s Square.
A senior Vatican official insisted that felling the tree was ‘ecologically responsible’.
The Mercedes popemobile is not the first electric vehicle to be used by the Vatican.Â
French automaker Renault presented Francis’s predecessor, Benedict XVI, with an electric people carrier in 2012.
Earlier this year, the Pope was seen struggling to get on to his last popemobile after an audience at the Vatican, as lingering respiratory and mobility problems continued to affect the 87-year-old pontiff.
The event was held outside for the first time in March in a chilly St Peter’s Square. Francis had an aide read his catechism lesson, as he had done for the past several days before that.
The week prior, Francis went to hospital in Rome for unspecified diagnostic tests, the results of which have not been released.
He has been suffering on and off this winter from what he and the Vatican have said was a cold, bouts of bronchitis and the flu.
Late last year, Francis underwent a CAT scan that ruled out pneumonia, but the Pope was still forced to call off a trip to the Gulf because of acute, infectious bronchitis.
The Argentine pope had part of one lung removed as a young man because of a respiratory infection, and he often speaks in a whisper even when he is not ill.
In 2021, he had a chunk of his colon removed and last year had surgery to repair an abdominal hernia and remove intestinal scar tissue.
