Pope Francis helped raised more than £200,000 for charity yesterday by selling his signed – HARLEY DAVIDSON.
The head of the Catholic Church doesn’t get much time to cruise around the streets of Rome on the Dyna Super Glide bike.
So he decided to auction it off and donate the funds to Caritas Roma, a charity which supports those in need around the world.
The 1,585cc Harley Davidson went under the hammer today at Bonhams’ Grand Palais auction with an estimate of just £10,000.
But the prospect of owning a bike belonging to the Pope became too much for many, sending bidding through the roof.
Potential buyers in the room, on the phone and online battled it out for the bike, with offers soon crossing the 100,000 euro (£83,000) mark.
Bids continued to come with an online customer winning the auction, paying a staggering 210,000 euros (£175,000). Premiums took the final price to £200,976.
Next up came the Pope’s biker jacket, which sold for a staggering £47,851 – bringing his charity sales to almost £250,000.
The staggering sale had similarities to when a US casino owner paid £127,000 for Pope Benedict XVI’s Volkswagen Golf in 2005.