Pope blesses environment-friendly car race

By Linda Bordoni

One of the pioneering fully-electric racing cars that will compete in Saturday’s Rome Formula E race, roared into the Santa Marta courtyard in front of Pope Francis’ residence on Wednesday morning to be blessed by the environmentally aware pontiff himself.

And later in the morning, after the General Audience in St. Peter’s Square, the Pope (author of “Laudato Sì – On the Care for Our Common Home”) had a special greeting for a team of managers, mechanics and pilots representing the Formula E Championship, the world’s first fully-electric international single-seater street racing series.

Described as “racing reinvented” and consisting of ten teams and 20 drivers, Formula E delivers world-class racing to 10 cities over five continents, throughout the seven-month Championship season.

Protagonists of the event explain that the Formula E Championship is more than just a racing series. It provides a competitive platform for car manufacturers to test and develop electric vehicles and improve the “zero carbon emissions” driving experience for everyday road car users all over the world.