Pope receives Volkswagen beetle as gift from Mexican delegation

Published: 2004-05-27

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Two years after his last visit to Mexico, Pope John Paul II got a Mexican bug -- a light blue Mexico-manufactured Volkswagen Beetle, to be exact. The keys were handed to the pope during his May 26 weekly general audience by leaders of a 350-member delegation from Mexico's national Volkswagen dealership organization and from the Puebla plant where the car was manufactured in 2003. The pope didn't see the car itself until he was on his way back to the papal apartments in his popemobile. He stopped briefly to look at the new car and to bless it, according to the Italian news agency ANSA. While European-based Volkswagen factories stopped producing the vintage-model Beetle in 1978, production continued in Mexico until July 30, 2003. Volkswagen introduced a new-styled Beetle in 1998.

Copyright (c) 2004 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .