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It's been a big week for the Pope: he sent his first tweet, and he was lucky enough to have a visit from a group of Angelenos, who traveled to Rome to celebrate the pallium ceremony of Archbishop Jose Gomez. Now, KCBS reports that Pope Benedict XVI is giving smug San Franciscans a run for their money by going green with his Popemobile:
Vatican officials have confirmed the details of Pope Benedict XVI’s latest ride: a custom-made M-Class plug-in hybrid based on the technology found inside the Mercedes Vision S500 plug-in hybrid shown at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show.
It's high-tech, all right, and it has the added benefit of being able to zip his Holiness to safety should someone threaten to do him harm. KCBS notes than a fully electric car, which the Vatican at one point considered, could not accelerate fast enough to get him out of a potentially dangerous situation, such as the approach of an assassin or an atheist.