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Concept
Popemobile
Summary
The popemobile is a specially designed motor vehicle used by the pope of the Catholic Church during public appearances. It is considered a successor to the sedia gestatoria and was designed to allow the pope to be more visible when greeting large crowds.
There have been many different designs for popemobiles since Pope Paul VI first used a modified Lincoln Continental to greet crowds in New York City in 1965. Some are open air, while others have bulletproof glass walls to enclose the pope, deemed necessary after the 1981 assassination attempt of Pope John Paul II. Some allow the pope to sit, while others are designed to accommodate him standing. The variety of popemobiles allows the Roman Curia to select an appropriate one for each usage depending upon the level of security needed, distance, speed of travel, and the pope's preferences.
The vehicle registration plates of Vatican City all begin with the letters "SCV", an abbreviation of the Latin Status Civitatis Vaticanae ("Vatican City State"), followed by the vehicle fleet number. The registration plate for the Ford Focus currently used by Pope Francis is "SCV 00919". In the past, the popemobile has typically used registration plate "SCV 1", although plates numbered "SCV 2" to "SCV 9" have also been used.
The precursor to the popemobile was the sedia gestatoria, a chair carried on the shoulders of papal attendants. This fell out of use after the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978. Pope John Paul I, who succeeded Pope Paul VI and reigned for only 33 days before his death, was the last pope who used the sedia gestatoria.
The first time that John Paul II traveled to his home country, the white vehicle was based on the Polish mark FSC Star, a small truck from a firm in Starachowice. For John Paul II's visit to Ireland in 1979, Ford Ireland donated a D series truck which was adapted by OBAM coachbuilders; in 2017 it was available for private rental in Dublin. It was bigger than the truck used later in Vatican City. Another popemobile was a modified Mercedes-Benz with a small windowed enclosure in the back where the pope sits.
Official source
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