Bidding for Pope Benedict XVI’s old Volkswagen, on offer on eBay Germany, topped €100 000 (R772 000) on Thursday, 10 times the price the current owner paid for it.
A few hours before the sale was set to close, the page on the internet auction website had registered 6,3-million hits, far more than any other item advertised.
The bidding for the metallic grey 1999 Golf IV in mint condition started at €9 999 (about R7 700), which is the price Benjamin Halbe (21) bought it for in January from a used car dealer, having no idea that its previous owner, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, would become pope.
Ratzinger’s private secretary bought it for him in 1999 in southern Germany. It was then taken to the cardinal in Rome and registered in his name, though apparently he never actually drove it himself, as according to Catholic Church sources he has no licence.
Bidding closes at 5.30pm GMT on Thursday, which happens to be celebrated by Christians as Ascension Day. — AFP