Better pray this clunker doesn’t break down.
Pope Francis recently rolled out his not-so-new, mini-Popemobile — a shabby-looking 1984 Renault 4.
The no-nonsense, austere pontiff said he plans to drive the 190,000-mile heap when he’s not forced to be inside a secure limousine.
The beat-up Renault was donated to Pope Francis by a priest from northern Italy.
The Rev. Renzo Zocca said he used it to visit poor parishioners and drive children to summer camps.
The papal-white-colored, four-door is a manual shift that sports a new engine.
“The pope intends to drive it,” said the Rev. Ciro Benedettini, a Vatican spokesman.
Zocca, 79, said he took a spin in the jalopy with Francis on Saturday. The pontiff told Zocca that he used to own a Renault 4, years ago, in his native Argentina.
Francis plans to use it for short commutes within Vatican grounds.
Zocca said he could already tell Pope Francis’ security detail wasn’t thrilled with the pontiff’s desire to zip around in a 29-year-old wreck.
“The security guard standing next to me was really worried because he knew that from now on he’ll be going around the Vatican in my car,” Zocca said.
And if Pope Francis wants to venture outside the Vatican this winter, he’ll be well equipped.
“I left him some snow tires in the boot,” Zocca said. “You never know.”
As a cardinal in Buenos Aires, Pope Francis lived in a small apartment and regularly rode public transportation.
Pope Francis vowed to skip luxuries enjoyed by his predecessors to encourage austerity within the Catholic Church.
Zocca said he’s been moved by the pope’s drive to serve the poor and lead by example.
The priest thought his gift of a very used car would be the perfect symbol for Pope Francis’ vision for “a Church for the poor.”
“What better than my old Renault 4?” he told the Italian magazine Famiglia Cristiana.
