Vatican City - Pope Francis received some hot new wheels on Wednesday in the form of a white-and-yellow Lamborghini Huracan but he won't be using the 449kW V10-powered supercar to cruise along the tree-shaded roads of the Vatican gardens.
On Wednesday officials from Lamborghini presented Francis with the car outside the Vatican hotel where he lives. The pope promptly blessed it and signed it.
The special edition Huracan, with yellow-gold detailing inspired by the Vatican flag, will be auctioned off by Sotheby's, with the proceeds going to various charities.
Some of the funds raised from the auction will go to rebuilding homes, churches and public buildings in Iraq's Nineveh Plains that were devastated during three years of fighting by the Islamic State group. The Vatican said the aim is to allow Christians who were forced to flee Nineveh "to finally return to their roots and recover their dignity."
Other funds will go to charities that help women who are trafficked and forced into prostitution, and those that provide medical care in Africa.
Francis has shunned the papal limousines used by his predecessors in favour of a simple blue Ford Focus.