It really ought not to be news, but
given the worldly tenor of the Vatican down the centuries, it is: Pope Francis
is raffling the gifts that have been showered on him to raise money for the
down-and-outs who bed down in the environs of the world’s tiniest – but far
from poorest – state.
In recent days, posters have gone up
on walls around the Vatican advertising a draw. The tickets are only €10, yet
the first prize is a brand spanking new Fiat Panda 4x4 – with
all optional extras.
The car, sprayed papal white, is
worth more than £15,000 new. But that is without the cachet that comes with
having been the property of one careful owner who is also Supreme Pontiff of
the Universal Church. Such things count for a lot on eBay.
Other prizes include a light blue
racing bike, a ballpoint pen and a panama hat.
Francis, famed for his ascetic way
of life, has forsaken the lavish accessories of the papacy since his election
last year as leader of the world’s 1.2 billion baptised Roman Catholics. He
wears clumpy black shoes instead of the custom-made red slippers favoured by
his predecessor, Benedict; refuses to live in the magnificently decorated papal
apartments, and drives himself around the city state in a 1984 Renault 4 of the
sort favoured by Italian smallholders.
Less visibly, he has appointed
a new papal almoner – a Polish archbishop, Konrad Krajewski – and
boosted his department. The almoner’s job is to respond to pleas for help,
mostly with small gestures such as the paying of fuel bills for poor families.
Last week, it was reported that Krajewski
was arranging for showers to be built at the Vatican for the homeless who camp
out in the area round St Peter’s Square. The Rome daily Il Messaggero said the
raffle was intended to raise funds for projects to help the down-and-outs. In a
bid to increase its resources, the almoner’s office last month reasserted the
Vatican’s monopoly on the production of papal blessings on parchment, which
some Catholics buy to mark special occasions such as baptisms and marriages.
The raffle draw is not being held, as
might have been expected, at Christmas but on 8 January. Why is unclear but the
date is the feast day of St Severinus of Noricum who
ministered to refugees displaced by the Hunnish invasions of the fifth century.
Famed for his self-denial, Severinus is said to have slept on sackcloth.
The
papal prizes
1. Fiat Panda 4x4 1.3 JTD.
2. Racing bicycle (light blue).
3. Bicycle (orange) with panniers.
4. City bicycle (grey).
5. Tandem bicycle (white).
6. Sony HD digital video camera.
7. Illy Iperespresso coffee maker.
8. JBL Wi-Fi dock for iPod and
iPhone.
9. Ottaviani ballpoint pen with
silver trim.
10. Leonardo Argenti silver picture
frame.
11. Brosway gentleman’s wrist watch.
12. PTM document case in brown
leather.
13. Homero Ortega white panama hat –
plus around 30 “consolation” prizes.
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