VATICAN CITY (AP) — The Vatican is opening a celebration of the popemobile, the now-iconic vehicle that for nearly a century has let popes get close to the faithful at home and abroad.
The Vatican Museums on Wednesday unveiled a preview of the exhibition commemorating “A Century of the Popemobile,” featuring eight Mercedes-Benz versions of the car that popes have used since 1930. It officially opened to the public Thursday.
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A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
Separately, Pope Leo XIV — a big car lover — met with top Mercedes-Benz executives and thanked them for their partnership with the Holy See. In his remarks, the Chicago-born pope noted that the advances in automotive technology had accompanied the advances and evolutions of papal travel.
“Over the decades, the popemobile has evolved from a means of transportation into an instrument of encounter, enabling the pontiff to draw closer to the faithful during pastoral visits and public celebrations,” Leo said. “In this way, your work has helped facilitate the church’s mission of reaching out to people and bringing a message of faith, of hope and of charity to the world.”
The oldest car on display in the Vatican Museum exhibit was given to Pope Pius XI on May 23, 1930. The Mercedes-Benz Nürburg 460 featured a luxurious armchair upholstered in silk brocade and finishes of fine wood and metal.
It “was specifically built, designed, and prepared for papal use, so much so that just by comparing it, you can see how it transitions from the serial to the unique,” said Sandro Barbagallo, curator of the Historical Collections Department at the Vatican Museums.
“From this point, it is clear how all the cars were then made, precisely to allow the pope to be seen, but to be seen and to see in total safety and, I would even say, comfort,” he said.
Later versions of the popemobile on view reflected the changing needs of a pope on the road, most importantly his need to engage with the faithful and — more recently — bless babies that were brought to him.
In 1960, Pope John XXIII was presented with the 300 d Landaulet, with a detail that foreshadowed change: The removable rear side windows allowed the future saint to reach out to those he met along the way.
In 1980, for St. John Paul II’s visit to Germany, Mercedes-Benz developed the 230 G, which featured another major innovation: a tall, transparent dome at the rear, providing safety but also guaranteeing a clear view for the millions of faithful gathered to see him.
In his remarks to the Mercedes-Benz executives, Leo recalled the electric popemobile they presented to Pope Francis in keeping with the Argentine pope’s ecological priorities.
“In this spirit, I encourage you to continue placing technological innovation at the service of human dignity, care for creation and the common good,” he said.
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
A popemobile used by successive popes is displayed at "A Century of the Popemobile," an exhibition tracing 100 years of papal transportation, from Pope Pius XI's first automobile in 1930 to modern popemobiles, at the Vatican Museums, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026. (AP Photo/Isaia Montelione)
JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) — Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent as the Justice Department escalated a criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas.
“I just want to clear the air," she said at the top of a speech in a downtown bar in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters."
Peltola is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan. A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that subpoenas seeking grand jury testimony or documents, along with records preservation demands, were issued after The New York Times reported that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part an alleged effort to confuse voters.
The race is considered key to control of the U.S. Senate. More subpoenas were expected, according to the person who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing probe. Neither the recipients of the subpoenas nor the number of them were immediately clear.
The Justice Department for months has been looking into allegations that Dan J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race to siphon votes from the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan. The potential targets of the investigation are unclear, but President Donald Trump earlier this week called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and her campaign.
Attorney General Todd Blanche in a Fox News interview on Wednesday said he wouldn’t discuss any criminal investigations, but accused Democrats of “cheating.”
“They are trying to take votes away from the incumbent, not by running an election, not by running on issues but by putting up a person with the same name,” Blanche said.
The race is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber. Trump had previously directed his Department of Justice to sue to block certification of the Senate race should Democrat Mary Peltola defeat Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign. “Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.
Separately, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into Peltola, saying the newspaper's reporting “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.”
“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy added, noting that the reporting “substantially supports” earlier findings by the state’s elections board into the matter.
Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won the election. “Well, you’re going to have to see what happens," the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina. "It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”
Later, as he rallied for Republican Sen. Darline Graham, Trump said he felt Peltola “actually should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted."
Peltola alluded to the controversy in a fundraising post Thursday. “They can’t win on their record so they’re trying to intimidate me into backing down,” she said, adding later: “This is just another distraction as they avoid answering for the skyrocketing cost of living we’re facing because of their tariffs and forever wars. It won’t work.”
In Juneau, Alaska, independent Carter Bancroft said he voted Thursday for Peltola. “I’m very certain in the candidates I wanted to vote for and I wanted to vote for Mary Peltola,” he said.
But he said the latest claims have bothered him. He worries they give “ammunition” to Trump and others to attack Peltola or other Democratic candidates. “And I think I’m bothered by shenanigans on either side," Bancroft said, especially actions intended “to confuse things or try to trick people.”
John Delgado, an independent who leans Republican, said he has “warmed up” to Sen. Sullivan, especially in light of the recent claims. He agrees that Peltola should drop out of the race.
The situation in Alaska isn't that unusual. Political parties often support extra candidates on ballots to try to pull votes from their rivals. If state courts allow it, legal experts say, the federal government has no role challenging the results.
In Ohio’s Senate race, Republicans have been tied to an effort to boost a socialist on the ballot who would pull votes from the Democratic candidate challenging Sen. Jon Husted.
On Thursday, Vice President JD Vance didn’t go as far as Trump did in calling for Peltola to be prosecuted but said he supported a probe into possible election fraud.
“I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters, on the ballot,” Vance told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to Texas. “She is trying to steal a Senate seat from the voters of Alaska, and it’s disgraceful.”
Earlier this year, a top state elections official ruled Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher in the small fishing community of Petersburg, ineligible for the primary ballot, concluding that his declaration of candidacy was filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”
The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled he was qualified to run. Alaskan voters will see “Dan S. Sullivan” identified as a “registered Republican” and “incumbent” on their ballots, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” will not have a party affiliation.
The New York Times reported that interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit showed Peltola’s team aimed to coax candidates into the race, with the aim of splitting support for the GOP senator.
Asked about the reporting on Wednesday, Trump told journalists, “I think they should be prosecuted.” He earlier had posted on social media that “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.”
Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before boarding Air Force One, Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026, at Joint Base Andrews, Md. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Vice President JD Vance speaks to the media before boarding Air Force Two for Texas, at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Thursday, Oct. 29, 2026. (Evan Vucci/Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - This combination photo shows Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, left, in Palmer, Alaska, Aug. 17, 2026, and a candidate in Alaska's Senate race, Dan Sullivan, right, in Petersburg, Alaska, July 3, 2026. (AP Photos/Mark Thiessen/Becky Bohrer, File)
FILE - Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy speaks in the Oval Office of the White House during an event with President Donald Trump, Sept. 30, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
FILE - Mary Peltola, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alaska, addresses supporters at an election watch party on Aug. 18, 2026, in Anchorage, Alaska. (AP Photo/Mark Thiessen, File)
