Mercedes Gifts Pope Francis An Electric Popemobile

The supreme head of the Roman Catholic church; Pope Francis II, on wednesday, received an electric popemobile from German automaker Mercedes-Benz at the Vatican.

The vehicle, a customised Mercedes G-Class, features a glass canopy over an elevated seat that allows the head of the Catholic Church to greet large groups of well-wishers.

According to Mercedes, an electric engine “adapted to the particularly low speeds required for public appearances” by the pope powers the pearl-white popemobile. The specially designed car was personally delivered to Pope Francis at the Vatican by Chief Executive Ola Kallenius and experts involved in the unique project.

It was a “special honour for our company to produce cars for the pope”, Kallenius said.

According to the firm, the Stuttgart-based automaker has been providing popemobiles to the Vatican for the last 45 years.

The transition to electric popemobiles was in line with Pope Francis’s repeated call for global action on the climate crisis. His decision to prioritise environmental issues throughout his pontificate, began in 2013. The Pope’s 2015 encyclical “Laudato Si” called for worldwide unity to take immediate action to defend “our common home” and address climate change.

After criticising delayed climate action in 2023, Francis revised his historic thesis and became the first pontiff to personally attend the UN climate talks.

The Vatican has already employed electric vehicles before the Mercedes popemobile.

In 2012, Benedict XVI, Francis’s predecessor, was shown an electric people carrier by the French company Renault.

Pope Francis, meantime, gave preachers some helpful advise during his general audience on Wednesday in St. Peter’s Square: “never go over 10 minutes” or you risk your audience losing interest. A call to action, an emotion, and an idea must all be preached by preachers.

Some pilgrims applauded when Pope Francis declared, “After eight minutes, the preaching starts to fade, it is not understood.”

The pope also begged people to continue praying for peace and freedom as he ended his sermon, namely for the people of Israel, Palestine, and Ukraine as well as “the innocent killed in wars.”