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unassuming and eschewed many of the trappings of his position, so it seems appropriate his coffin was transported in a superseded single-cab pickup truck.
Footage of his funeral procession in Rome, shared by outlets such as ABC, revealed the pontiff’s final ride was a DS-series Ram 1500, 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 the modified G580 with EQ Technology that Mercedes-Benz gave it last year.
As Tork 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 Navara) and in the Philippines and throughout Europe in an Isuzu D-Max.
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 Ford Focus.