---
title: "President Obama and Pope Francis Meet, Compare Cars: A Blow-by-Blow Account"
description: "Fiat and a Caddy? Like Felix and Oscar, these two guys..."
date: "2015-09-23"
modified: "2015-09-23"
authors:
  - name: "Ben Keeshin"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/ben-keeshin"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/article/281/president-obama-and-pope-francis-meet-compare-cars-a-blow-by-blow-account"
categories:
  - "Culture"
  - "News"
  - "People"
---

# President Obama and Pope Francis Meet, Compare Cars: A Blow-by-Blow Account

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/archive-images/hero-credit-_alex-wong-getty_.jpg>)
*\<em\>www.thedrive.com</em>*

Pope Francis, beloved for his humility, empathy for the poor and progressive views on climate change, is currently visiting the United States. He’s in a Fiat 500L, a can of Italian *tonno* to which Fiat attaches fifteen-inch wheels and sells for $19,345. While other papal seats have opted for more leather and luxury—the longstanding Popemobile of choice was a Mercedes-Benz—Pope Francis has chosen to tour the country with the world's highest rate of gun ownership in a stylized, motorized bike helmet.

![inline-1-credit-\_olivier-douliery-getty\_.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/inline-1-credit-_olivier-douliery-getty_.jpg>)
**Olivier Douliery/Getty**

(We hear he actually requested a Vespa—*Older, you know, maybe a little dented with a peace symbol on the bumper*—but the Swiss Guard nixed the idea over concerns about flapping robes and exposure of the Papal Thigh.)

![inline-2-credit-\_jewel-samad-afp-getty\_.jpg](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/content/archive-images/inline-2-credit-_jewel-samad-afp-getty_.jpg>)
**Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty**

To greet the arriving Pope in Maryland, President Barack Obama showed up in The Beast, an eight-ton, million-dollar, heavily-armored Cadillac truck-limousine with its own oxygen supply. After greeting a line of dignitaries, the two world leaders paused to compare rides through a translator:

President Obama, straining to open the several-hundred-pound reinforced door, invited His Holiness to consider the rugged construction of his armored Cadillac.

*Able to withstand a shot from a .44 Magnum, should folks get a little feisty*, the President chuckled, beaming with nationalistic pride in all things large, armoured, truck-like and chrome-dipped.

Ill at ease around the materialistic Cadillac, the Pope allowed, *Yes, it is astounding what a modest worker can create*.

In exchange, Francis offered that his Fiat had trouble finding ninth gear.

The Fiat, which reads to most American eyes as a fleet-footed bread box, offers “exceptional fuel-economy,” said the Pope.

*Yes, very important*, Obama shouted over the thunderous rumble of his vehicle’s 6-plus-liter Duramax diesel engine.

The Pontiff, still enamoured of his wee chariot of chastity, leaned conspiratorially towards the President and shared that, in the backseat of his car, was a bottle of spring water. *Fresh, clean, and pure!*

The tarmac summit nearing its end, Obama slung his frame down into The Beast, nodding vigorously.

*Water—great! I ride next to several quarts of my own blood should I need emergency transfusion. Also, some Sun Chips. Nothing like the little amenities!*

With that, the two men parted; the President’s corpulent, impervious limo heading one way, and the Pope’s motorized wash-bucket another, following a fleet of heavy-duty Chevy Suburbans like a wishful penguin after a pod of whales.

## Author
Ben Keeshin is a former staff writer for Maxim, and before that, contributed writing to the digital sides of Road & Track and Vanity Fair.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://twitter.com/BnKshn>)