Pope Benedict's Car Fetches More Than $244,000 in Online Auction

Voice of America
Washington, D.C.
May 6, 2005

A car that once belonged to Pope Benedict XVI has sold for more than $244,000 on the online auction site, E-Bay.

The online casino firm, Golden Palace.com, confirms that it won the auction and has purchased the 1999 Volkswagen Golf from Benjamin Halbe, a 21-year-old German man. Mr. Halbe bought the car for a little less than $15,000 in January, knowing nothing about its previous owner.

It was only when he received the Volkswagen's registration papers that he learned it had once belonged to Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the German cleric who became Pope Benedict XVI last month.

Golden Palace.com calls its winning bid "one of the most phenomenal events in Internet history."

The online company also placed the winning bid for a grilled cheese sandwich said to show the image of the Virgin Mary.

Some information for this report provided by Bloomberg and Reuters.