San Francisco Frontiers - A throne on wheels, popemobiles star in new Vatican show

"A Century of the Popemobile" tracks the long relationship between the Stuttgart-based automaker and the Holy See, where the head of the Catholic Church has used increasingly sophisticated vehicles to meet the faithful, whether in St Peter's Square, or during papal voyages around the world.

Opening to the public Thursday, the exhibit in a temporary pavilion within the Vatican's Square Garden features eight models borrowed from the automaker's collection and that of the Vatican.

First on display -- and poles apart from the white popemobiles of present-day -- is the Nurburg 460, a shiny black Pullman limo delivered to Pope Pius XI in 1930, whose luxurious exterior reveals a plush papal seat inside, covered in raspberry silk brocade.

Last is the hulking ML 500 made for Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, with its enlarged enclosed back section allowing for optimal viewing of, and by, the pope.

Sandro Barbagallo, head of the museum's department of historical collections, told journalists during a preview Wednesday that the popemobile should not be viewed as "just a simple means of transport".

"The so‑called popemobile serves to allow people to see the pope, but also to allow him to see. It serves so that people can greet the pope, but also and above all so that the pope can, along the roads, greet and at the same time bless," he said.

"It is a modern technology placed at the service of the pontiff, at the service of his ministry," said Barbagallo.

The first so-called modern popemobile appeared in 1980, with the Mercedes-Benz 230G for Pope John Paul II.

Its rear resembled an elevated throne covered by a transparent dome, adorned with mother of pearl paintwork and gold trim.

Other cars on display include the 1960 300D Landaulet with its plush beige mohair seat and removable side windows for Pope John XXIII and the 1997 lungo Landaulet with its electrohydraulic soft top for Pope John Paul II.

Although the show recounts 100 years of papal mobility, it leaves out the various vehicles produced by Mercedes-Benz's competitors and gifted to the pope, including from Fiat, Renault, Volkswagen -- and even Ferrari.

- 'Sardine can' -

Popemobiles have included bulletproof glass since the assassination attempt on John Paul II in 1981 in Rome.

But for all their benefits, the popemobiles sometimes meet resistance from those they were designed to transport.

Pope Francis famously told a Spanish newspaper in 2014 that he couldn't get close to the people from within his "sardine can" popemobile encased in bulletproof glass, saying he preferred to be more out in the open, despite the safety risks.

For short trips to cross Rome, Francis often opted for a simple white Fiat.

Accessing the show, visitors enter through the museum's Carriage Pavilion with the ornate horse-drawn coaches of popes and cardinals of years past, before global automakers began wooing the pope with their vehicles.

Speaking to journalists, the chief executive of Mercedes-Benz Heritage, Marcus Breitschwendt, said the automaker's historic cars, including popemobiles, are exhibited in a closely protected museum in Stuttgart.

"A clear rule to everybody" prevails there, Breitschwendt said.

"It's strictly forbidden to everybody, even to our CEO, to all of us, to sit on the pope's seat.

"And that's the way it will stay."

S.Jackson--SFF