Just spotted this advertisement only barely disguised as news, via USA Today. People don’t really even try to hide this stuff anymore, do they?

FRANKFURT (Reuters) — Germany’s BMW has handed the keys to an X5 full-size sport-utility vehicle to Pope Benedict, the world’s largest premium carmaker said Thursday.

“We are proud to be able to provide Pope Benedict XVI with a BMW car,” the group’s chief of marketing and sales, Michael Ganal, said in a statement after an audience with the pontiff.

Benedict hails from a small Bavarian town about an hour’s drive from Munich, where BMW is based.

Man, that just has advertising copy written all over it. Well, good for them I guess. I’m sure the Vatican was in dire need of a luxury SUV, after all. I suppose the distinction they’re trying to make here via this stunt is something like: The most prestigious and important people in the world drive BMW’s.

This article also points out that though the Vatican uses many other BMW vehicles, the current Popemobile is actually a Mercedes-Benz. Also just came across this article on Spiegel from April which talks about the bidding war from various car manufacturers to win the next Popemobile contract. I don’t know from these sources whether or not that’s been decided yet, but I suppose in that industry these types of things are important status and brand positioning contracts to win.