VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is forgoing the bulletproof popemobile for his upcoming trip to Brazil for the Catholic Church’s youth festival, further evidence that he has no qualms about tweaking the Vatican’s security operations for the sake of getting closer to the faithful.
The Vatican said Wednesday that Francis will use the same open-topped car he uses for zooming around St. Peter’s Square to move about Rio de Janeiro, where he arrives July 22 for the week-long World Youth Day fest. He’ll use a closed car for longer-distance drives, but the open-topped car for milling about the crowds.
In recent times, popes have always used the protected popemobile, with its raised seat and panoramic, bulletproof windows, for forays outside Rome. Francis, however, ended that tradition when he used an open-topped Fiat during his recent visit to the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Francis has made a point of changing Vatican protocol, especially where it concerns the trappings of the papacy and his ability to connect with ordinary people. He eschewed Vatican security on his first outing as pope when he visited a Roman basilica the day after his election, and he has chosen to live in the Vatican hotel rather than the fancy, enclosed Apostolic Palace, to be with more regular folk.