From Reuters, December 4:
The Vatican on Wednesday unveiled a new open-top popemobile, an all-electric Mercedes-Benz that Pope Francis will use when he greets pilgrims in St. Peter's Square.
The vehicle, a modified version of the German company's G-Class mid-size luxury SUV, has an elevated seat for Francis, so crowds have a better chance of seeing the pope.
It comes in white, the traditional papal colour, and features heating in the papal seat and in a grab bar the pope can use for balance when standing in the vehicle.
"Every detail is perfection," Sten Ola Kallenius, board chair and CEO of the Mercedes-Benz Group, told Reuters. It took "hundreds of hours of craftsmanship ... to build a one-of-a-kind popemobile," he said....
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I should hope it's one of-a-kind. The alternatives seem to be either that Il Papa is going to pre-position a fleet of Popemobiles in strategic corners of the world (but moving toward an answer to Stalin's question on how many divisions the Pope has), which might be bad for the centuries long branding exercise or, that we've got one of those Pope—Anti-Pope schism things going on.
