A delegation from Ferrari, headed by its president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, met with the Pope Monday and presented him, among other things, with a steering wheel from Michael Schumacher's Formula-1 Ferrarri racing car. Montezemolos remarked that it was a very complicated steering wheel, to which the Pope replied that it was also complicated to steer the Church! (From the Italian news agency ANSA, 12/5/05)
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But why on earth would they give the Pope a steering wheel?
P.S. Additional details now from APCOM, another news agency:
Actually, the main "gift" presented by Montemozolo (who like Prime Minister Berlusconi last week arrived a few minutes late for his appointment with the German Pope!) was a check for 950,000 Euro equivalent to the cost of a Ferrari Enzo Special Edition #400 which was specially built to be placed on auction for charity purposes.
He said the Pope was also pleased with the steering wheel from Schumacher's F2004, inscribed with the dedication: "The steering wheel of the F1 World Champion for His Holiness Benedict XVI, the pilot of Christianity."
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 05/12/2005 16.11]