Fully electric motorsport series Formula E raced in the streets of Rome this weekend. But that’s now the second most unbelievable thing about the event: earlier this week, the Pope blessed one of the racecars. Pope Francis conducted a private Apostolic Blessing at his residence in Santa Matra.
The Pontiff welcomed many of the series’ drivers and team personnel to the Vatican City before attending the papal audience.
Formula E got its start in 2014 and is now cruising through the fourth full season of racing. Some longtime racing fans don’t like how quiet the cars are or argue that they’re slow.
The series has long said this doesn’t matter; its goal is to attract fans who are new to racing, which is its own kind of problem.
At the very least, the small but vibrant community of Formula E fans that do exist now have a fantastic new photo to use as fodder for their jokes when they fire up Twitter during each race — a wholly different kind of blessing.
