The Philippines built a tricked-out popemobile ‘jeepney’ for Pope Francis’ visit

BANGKOK — Riding in an open-air “jeepney” — the iconic Filipino public transport vehicle — often involves sucking lungfuls of exhaust and jostling for space with total strangers. Sometimes those strangers are live chickens.

But this vehicle, frequented by the working poor, will soon be patronized by the most distinguished passenger in jeepney history.

During his five-day visit to the Philippines, Pope Francis is rolling in an all-white jeepney-style popemobile outfitted with chromed hubs and running boards. Two glass crosses are fixed to the side.
 

This will offer the Pope a small taste of Filipino commuter life. The full experience would involve a bumpy ride with up to 18 people crammed cheek-to-cheek in a back cabin choked with dust and fumes. A few people hanging out the back isn’t uncommon. And a jeepney isn’t truly maxed out until passengers are clinging to the roof.

The jeepney is a quintessentially Filipino cultural mashup. Old US Army jeeps have been used for the chassis since the US, the Philippines’ most recent colonizer, evacuated the island nation after World War II. They’ve since been modified with long truck beds outfitted with benches. Like buses, jeepneys operate on routes. Passengers can hop on for less than 30 cents.

The jeepney is staunchly working class. But it’s hardly humble.

Unlike the Pope’s pearl-white jeepney, most are are splashed with garish color. Many are airbrushed with figures ranging from Jesus Christ to Manny Pacquiao. The vibrancy and Catholic iconography wouldn’t be out of place in Latin America, a region that was also conquered by Spain before conquistadors targeted the Philippine isles in the 16th century.

Like the common jeepney, this popemobile will be open to the breeze and without air conditioning. As an official tasked with arranging the popemobile told The Philippine Star: “If it will rain, and the people will get wet, he will also get wet.”

This is a departure from the bubble-like popemobiles made famous by Pope John Paul II, who waved to his admirers from inside a bulletproof glass box. (He had reason to be paranoid: He was shot in Vatican City and stabbed in Portugal. He was also targeted twice — in 1995 and 1999 — by Al Qaeda operative Khalid Sheikh Muhammed in the Philippines.)

But Pope Francis, who has attempted to depict the Vatican as more open in the wake of rampant child molestation coverups, is opting to sacrifice security for public accessibility.

That decision will be put to the test when rolls his popemobile into crowds in Manila that could attract an estimated six million people.

More from GlobalPost: Pope arrives in the Philippines amid massive security operation