Steering wheel of the Ferrari Formula 1 model MT 867/B
Photogallery
Steering wheel of the Ferrari Formula 1 model MT 867/B
On 17 January 2005, during a private audience with the Ferrari Team, Pope John Paul II received from the president Luca Cordero di Montezemolo the gift of a model of the Formula 1 and, as a tangible sign, the No. 400 special limited edition of the Ferrari Enzo: the Formula 1 road vehicle of which only 399 exemplars were built. The Pope chose to auction the Ferrari Enzo and to donate the proceeds to the victims of the tsunami in South East Asia.
On 6 December 2005, the president of Ferrari was received by Benedict XVI and during the encounter he was given the steering wheel of the Formula 1 2003 driven by Michael Schumacher, with the dedicatory inscription: Il volante della F1 Campione del Mondo a Sua Santità Benedetto XVI, pilota della cristianità (The steering wheel of the F1 World Champion to His Holiness Benedict XVI, pilot of Christianity).
Upon receiving this gift, the Holy Father spoke of the parallel between its complicated technology and the “complexity of guiding the Church”.