Pope Francis refuses to use his bulletproof Popemobile

Posted by: b3rrilyn in Interview Jun 14, 2014

The bulletproof Popemobile was introduced after the attempted assassination of John Paul II in 1981, and favored by Francis’s predecessor Benedict XVI. Cool Pope, however, does not have time for that. He told La Vanguardia:
“I remember in Brazil, they’d provided for me an enclosed Popemobile, but I cannot greet the people and tell them I love them inside a sardine can, even if it is made of glass. For me it is a wall. It is true something could happen to me but let’s be realistic, at my age I do not have much to lose. I know what could happen, but it is in God’s hands.”
Vatican officials aren’t particularly happy with this choice, and are said to have voiced fears for his safety during recent appearances in Jordan, Jerusalem, and Bethlehem. They were also unhappy with his decision to, last July, tour Rio de Janeiro in, according to The Independent, “an open-topped white jeep along the sea front of Copacabana beach.”