During Pope Benedict XVI’s recent New York visit, it was widely reported that the Pope travelled by “Pope-mobile” through the city, greeting spectators and press. These reports were, of course, completely false.
Since soon after the New York subway’s creation, visiting heads of state, high profile celebrities and religeous leaders have travelled in special armored subway cars. Seen here during the visit of Pope Benedict XVI, the train is equipped with high-wattage lights and apertures through which machine guns can be fired if necessary.*
So while one of the Pope’s many look-alikes rode above ground in a sham motorcade on the East Side of Manhattan, the real Benedict XVI was speeding along a downtown IRT express track — on one of his annual trips to withdraw gold from Federal Reserve vaults and to deliver stock market closing averages for the coming year.
* Machine guns have been used only twice: in 1977 when members of the Black Panthers attempted (probably in error) to board the car transporting actress Sophia Loren; and in 1937, when Woody Gutherie and a group of Italian anarchists tried unsuccessfully to bomb FDR’s train.
