During the Pope Francis’s visit to the United States in September 2015, he spent a lot of time being shuttled around in a fleet of custom Jeep Wrangler Popemobiles. The Pope also used similar Jeeps during his July 2015 trip to Bolivia, Ecuador and Paraquay. Previously milneschryslerdodgeramjeep.com told us that he has traveled in other car brands, such as Isuzu, Kia, Hyundai, and, less frequently, a Mercedes Benz.  For his United States visit, however, he chose a Jeep Wrangler platform much to the delight of US Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram dealers.

You could say using this vehicle, rather than the more prestigious makes favored by his predecessors, is another example of the humble image Francis is trying to project to the world. “It hurts me when I see a priest or nun with the latest model car,” he once said, “If a car is necessary, please, choose a more humble one. If you still personally want the fancy one, just think about how many children are dying of hunger in the world.”

The Wrangler Popemobiles may not be prestigious automobiles but they are far from being ordinary Jeeps. The Vatican and the Secret Service refuse to release any sort of technical information on the present Popemobiles but the vehicles used by Francis’s predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, had some interesting features. One might assume similar attributes would apply to the Wrangler ones. For example, the Mercedes-Benz Pope Benedict used when he visited the U.S. in 2008 was specially designed to drive up to 160 mph in the event of an emergency. Clearly this is not your ordinary Jeep. Pope Benedict’s Mercedes was also equipped for roadway sabotage, with special tires capable of rolling if suddenly deflated, at speeds up to 70 mph. The underside of the vehicle was braced with thick steel plating to protect the Pope in event of an IED explosion.

Did you notice that Pope Francis was meeting the people without glass shielding? The Popemobile was traditionally an open-topped vehicle until the assassination attempt on Pope John Paul II in 1981. From then on, John Paul and his successor, Benedict, rarely made parade appearances when not surrounded by four sides of bulletproof glass. Pope Francis has steered away from this tradition however. “It’s true that anything could happen, but let’s face it, at my age I don’t have much to lose,” he said, to the sound of jaws dropping world-wide. “I know that something could happen to me, but it’s (really) in the hands of God.”

Now that the Pope’s visit to the US is over, the nation has some time to reflect on his message and general visit meant. What is fascinating about his visit, though, is his choice of vehicles and how strongly he felt about the image that they portrayed. His message of austerity is certainly a strong one and something that will resonate throughout his chapter in Papal history.

Thanks to: Milnes Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram