(The Telegraph) The Pope has decided to sell off the Harley after showing he has little taste for flashy vehicles, preferring to greet the public from Fiats during recent visits to Lampedusa and Brazil, instead of using the Mercedes Popemobile used by his predecessor, Pope Benedict, which boasted a white leather chair with gold trim.

Francis was given the Harley Davidson motorbike in June when 35,000 Harley Davidson enthusiasts roared into Rome to celebrate the 110th birthday of the US motorbike brand and many packed into St Peterâ€™s Square for a papal blessing, lining their bikes up on Via della Conciliazione, which runs into the square.

Speaking to those gathered, the Pope cautioned that “power and pleasure”, among other things, lead to God being “replaced by fleeting human idols which offer the intoxication of a flash of freedom, but in the end bring new forms of slavery and death.”

The motorbike presented to the Pope will be auctioned to raise money for refurbishment at the hostel and soup kitchen run by charity Caritas near Romeâ€™s Termini station. [More]

SOURCE

The Telegraph