Pope Benedict XVI's is usually associated with his white papal robes.
But when it comes to his vehicle, he's going "green."
The Vatican is launching a competition to design the next popemobile, and one criterion is that it must be ecological, the Associated Press reports. Another is that it must be secure.
The competition was announced by the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.
It was organized by an Italian auto parts maker, Berman, which picks 12 students from around the world for its various projects.
The best designs will show up in a book published by the Vatican.
Besides being more ecological and secure, we hope the new popemobile is more dignified, unlike that Mercedes-Benz contraption with the sky box that the pontiff rides in at present.
The AP says: Benedict, 84, is known as something of a "green" pope because of his environmental concerns; Under his watch, the Vatican installed photovoltaic cells on its main auditorium to convert sunlight into electricity as well as a solar cooling unit for its main cafeteria. It has joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions.
For the pontiff, it's a moral issue: Church teaching holds that man must respect creation because it's destined for the benefit of humanity's future.
The question of a more environmentally conscious popemobile has been on the Vatican's radar screen for some time; earlier this year the Vatican confirmed that Germany's Mercedes-Benz was making a study of a hybrid, energy-saving popemobile for when Benedict travels outside the Vatican.
Benedict usually rides in a modified white Mercedes outfitted with bulletproof windows; it has room for two passengers in addition to the pope, who sits on an elevated chair to wave to crowds.
Last year, Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo, who at the time ran the Vatican City state, said Benedict would be open to using a hybrid popemobile as a sign of his efforts to promote sustainable energy and take care of the planet.
But the question remains whether one can be made that would meet the Vatican's security needs, particularly the ability to accelerate quickly, and of course who would donate it.