Did you know that Leo XIV is a car enthusiast?

“Bob loved to drive,” says a brother of the Order of St. Augustine who knew the current pope during his early years as a priest in Chicago, in a documentary aired by Vatican News. Unlike most of his predecessors, Pope Leo XIV is a true car enthusiast. So it’s not surprising that one of his first decisions as pope was to abandon the modest white Fiat 500L that Pope Francis had used for his travels.

From the Vatican’s fleet of 900 vehicles, the Pope chose an imposing dark blue German van, the Volkswagen Multivan PHEV 4MOTION. This vehicle can accommodate up to six passengers, is equipped with a 245-horsepower plug-in hybrid engine and automatic transmission, and offers a range of up to 54 miles in all-electric mode. This is more than enough to reach Castel Gandolfo, located about 25 miles from the Vatican, where Leo XIV spends his weekly days of rest.

However, it seems that the Pope doesn’t particularly appreciate being obliged by his status to sit in the passenger seat. “He loves to drive. It must be the hardest thing for him now, not being able to drive,” says another Augustinian brother from the Chicago province in the same documentary.

A car was indispensable for traveling through the vast suburbs of Chicago and the wide open spaces of the Midwest, and was synonymous with freedom for the young “Bob.” As a young man, he would drive the 750 miles between Chicago and Villanova University, near Philadelphia, where he studied, without batting an eye.

“He enjoyed it because that was time for him to think, to reflect and, if he was with people, to talk,” says one of his former classmates. He adds that, like a good American, Bob was particularly fond of Fords.

This passion clearly followed him to Peru, where he went as a missionary for the first time in 1985, even though he sometimes swapped the steering wheel for a horse saddle to reach certain isolated communities in the Andes. “To get to Lima from Chiclayo, he always took the car. Just imagine, that’s between 12 and 14 hours of driving. It’s not something you see every day,” says Véronique Lecaros, author of Léon XIV, portrait d’un pape péruvien (Leo XIV, portrait of a Peruvian pope).

In South America, Robert Francis Prevost had clearly developed a taste for large vehicles. “Father Roberto, who was very young at the time, came to pick me up at my home in Trujillo,” says Cesar Piscoya, recalling his first meeting with the future pope. “I remember him arriving in a gray or lead-colored Toyota Hilux pickup truck.”

This imposing Japanese vehicle, renowned for its strength and reliability, was probably well suited to the steep roads of Peru that the American had to travel. “When you’re a missionary, you learn to do everything — from repairing electronic devices to car mechanics, and much more,” said the man who was still only Bishop Prevost in 2020. So much so that if an oil change had to be done or spark plugs had to be changed in the Peruvian Augustinian community, it was always him they turned to.

Technically, Pope Leo XIV could therefore be the first pope capable of repairing his popemobile … But it’s not certain whether the Vatican mechanics will let him take the risk of staining his immaculate outfit by getting his hands full of grease.

This shouldn’t be necessary: Leo XIV has inherited a very robust popemobile, an all-electric Mercedes-Benz G-Class, a model equipped with four motors and boasting more than 500 horsepower! Some even imagine that having to be driven around in such a powerful car could be a source of frustration for the Pope: “I’m waiting for him to see a picture in his popemobile that he’s driving and not standing in the back,” laughs one of his Augustinian brothers who knew him well.

Some brands have already responded to the Pope’s weakness for cars. The president of BMW’s Italian branch visited the Vatican in December 2025 to offer Peter’s Successor his latest model, the xDrive60 M Sport. This SUV is anything but a small city car: it’s equipped with the brand’s most powerful electric motor, with no less than 544 horsepower under the hood. With such a toy, the pope could theoretically go from 0 to 60 mph in 4.6 seconds.

However, it is highly unlikely that he will ever drive it … Gifts given to popes, including cars, are usually sold at auction to fund charitable works. This was the case with a magnificent white Lamborghini Huracan, given to Pope Francis in 2017. Shortly afterwards, the luxury vehicle raised €715,000 (about $842,000) for the pontiff’s charitable works.