13 Interesting Facts About The Popemobile You Probably Never Knew

From the very first popemobile to the most provider of papal vehicles, here are 13 interesting facts about the popemobile you probably never knew.

Popes weren’t always carried in fancy popemobiles and papal transport wasn’t always referred to as a popemobile. Here are 13 facts about the Popemobile you probably never knew as compiled by Autojosh.

1) Sedia Gestatoria

Before the invention of the popemobile concept, Popes used to move around on the shoulders of 12 loyal footmen on portable throne chairs called Sedia Gestatoria to greet people during special occasions and processions. The sedia gestatoria fell out of use after the death of Pope Paul VI in 1978.

2) First “official” popemobile

The Nurburg 460 Pullman, which was given to Pope Pius XI in 1930 by German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz, is considered to have been to first “official” popemobile.

3) The term “Popemobile”

The term “Popemobile” was first used in English-language media to refer to a custom-built Lincoln Continental used by Pope Paul VI during a pastoral visit to New York City in 1965.

After the visit, the car was sold to an Iowa eye doctor, Eric Swanson, who promoted it as the “Pope-Mobile” and loaned it for other uses, including ticker-tape parades for the Apollo astronauts.

4) Designs

There have been many different designs for popemobiles – from the open-air variants, which Francis preferred, to those fitted with bulletproof glass walls to enclose the pope.

5) Armored variants

Fiat Campagnola

Popemobile was fitted with bulletproof glass following the assassination attempt on John Paul II while riding in Fiat Campagnola Popemobile in May 1981.

6) John Paul II disliked the name

In 2002, John Paul II requested that the media stop referring to the car as the “Popemobile”, saying that the term was “undignified”.

7) Host country

Many popemobiles remain in the country they are used in – from a small Seat Panda that John Paul II used in Spain to the white vehicle based on the Polish Star 660 truck that he was transported in when he visited his home country in 1979

8) The most provider

Mercedes-Benz has been the most frequent provider of papal vehicles since it provided the Vatican with its first Popemobile, the Nurburg 460 Pullman, in 1930.

9) Other providers

While Mercedes-Benz has been the most frequent provider of papal vehicles, SEAT, GMC, Toyota, Fiat, Isuzu, Kia, Hyundai, Land Rover, Dacia and Jeep have all made models as well.

10) Special Number Plate, “SCV 1”

The vehicles always presented the license plate “SCV 1”, although plates numbered “SCV 2” to “SCV 9” have also been used.

The “SCV” translates to Stato della Città del Vaticano (State of the City of the Vatican) and the number 1 symbolizing that it is for the Sovereign Pontiff.

11) First-ever Electric Popemobile

In December 2024, German automaker, Mercedes-Benz, presented the first-ever electric “Popemobile” to Pope Francis, who will later make his final public appearance on Easter Sunday while been chauffeur-driven in the fully electric Mercedes.

12) Popemobile turned into Hearse

During his funeral in April 2025, Francis’ coffin was transported to his burial place, the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, in a Ram 1500-based Popemobile.

13) Popemobile-turned mobile clinic

As part of his final wishes, Pope Francis requested that a Mitsubishi-based popemobile made for his 2014 visit to the West Bank be turned into a health clinic for the children of Gaza.

Staffed by doctors and out and fitted with life-saving supplies, the Popemobile-turned mobile clinic will be able to reach children in the most isolated corners of Gaza.

• See Also : Pope Francis’ Final Wish : Popemobile Is Being Converted Into A Mobile Clinic For Children Of Gaza