Kitcatt Nohr Digitas

Pope John Paul II appealed to the worlds media to refrain from using the word ‘Popemobile’. It was an undignified name, he protested, for such a holy form of transport. But the word ‘Popemobile’ is a perfect expression of this automotive aberration. It’s comical, anarchic, a pop icon, and single minded in its purpose- moving Popes. 

In appearance the vehicle completely lacks dignity. It defies ergonomics and gravity by bulging skyward like a cartoon limo reshaped by a rubbish compactor. Even at its average speed of 6 MPH the ludicrously high center of gravity makes the car look like it might topple rounding a sharp corner. If Hieronymous Bosche’s surreal visions of hell had featured machines instead monsters the Popemobile would have been depicted herding DeLoreans into industrial smelters.

To find the dignity within this beast you have to look beyond its appearance and at the altruism of its design.

The Popemobile turns conventional automobile design inside out. Where most cars cocoon their occupants in a private world- a mobile extension of their homes, the Popemobile aims to offer up its passenger to all around it- a mobile extension of the Vatican balcony. This is achieved by a hydraulic chair which lifts the Pope six feet off the ground and into a bullet proof glass ‘room’.

In this respect the Popemobile is a closer relative of the Sedan Chair than the automobile. Until 1978 the Pope would have been carried on a portable throne called a sedia gestatoria. It was only after Pope John Paul II refused to endorse this outmoded symbol of Papal authority that a more modest form of transportation was found.

Since then a motley fleet of vehicles have been commandeered and modified for Papal visits- British Leyland 6 wheel trucks, Chevrolet pick-ups, Polish milk floats. Contraptions the A-Team might have knocked up whilst under siege in a barn. In retirement these bizarre machines become holy relics attracting pilgrims from far and wide.

The latest model to hit the streets on the Pope's UK tour is a modified Mercedez-Benz M-Class SUV or ‘Papal Carrier’ sporting the legendary red on white number plate SCV 1 (Status Civitatis Vaticanae). The Pope sits suspended within it like one of Damien Hirst’s sharks in formaldehyde. A perfectly presented mystical apparition that glides silently above the heads of the crowd.

The Popemobile, as its name suggests, is a true car for the people, a generously designed carbuncle, an object of ridicule, and yet perfectly conceived for its unique job. Car, mobile building, mechanised robe, pilgrimage site, the ultimate hybrid.