A Ram 1500 was Pope Francis' surprising final ride

featured-image

His predecessor liked Mercedes-Benzes, but the late Pope Francis preferred Fords and Fiats and had his final ride in a Ram 1500.

The late Pope Francis was unassuming and eschewed many of the trappings of his position, so it seems appropriate his coffin was transported in a superseded single-cab pickup truck. or signup to continue reading Footage of his funeral procession in Rome, shared by outlets such as , revealed the pontiff's final ride was a DS-series , finished in white and featuring a platform upon which sat his coffin. This was used instead of the other vehicles that belong to the Vatican, including As reports, the Ram 1500 was gifted by Mexico to the Vatican in 2016.

Pope Francis had toured Mexico in the pickup that year, and after being transported to the Vatican it was subsequently used for internal transport as well as load-hauling. There's a Latin American connection to all of this. The Argentine-born pontiff, who passed away on April 21, was born in Argentina, while the Ram 1500 has for decades been produced not only in the US but also in Mexico.



It's unclear if this specific example was produced in Mexico. The Ram 1500 wasn't the late pontiff's only ute-based Popemobile, as he previously toured Mauritius in a Nissan NP300 Hardbody (better known here as the ) and in the Philippines and throughout Europe in an . The Ram also wasn't the pontiff's only vehicle from an auto brand now under the Stellantis umbrella.

On his first trip as Pope to the US, he was driven around in a Fiat 500L – in a reversal of his funeral procession, where it was an American vehicle being driven in Italy. Pope Francis was also known to use various mass-market vehicles for transport, including a second-generation . Content originally sourced from: Advertisement Sign up for our newsletter to stay up to date.

We care about the protection of your data. Read our . Advertisement.