Pope Francis gifted a Lamborghini but puts it on auction

If you follow the Pope very well, you would know he is famously frugal in his tastes for cars as he normally favours modest Fiats and Fords when he is driven around on trips abroad, but on Wednesday he was handed the keys of something a little classier – and that's a Lamborghini supercar.

But should I say unfortunately? Pope Francis wont be balling in the Lamborghini Huracan sports car, which boasts a 610 metric horsepower, as he instead sends it off to Sotheby's auction house with the proceeds going to favoured charities charities including one aimed at helping rebuild Christian communities in Iraq that were devastated by the Islamic State group.

They include a fund to rebuild homes and churches for Christians chased out of Iraq by Islamic State terrorists. The rebuilding efforts will be focused on the Nineveh Plains, north-east of Mosul, where Christians were forced to flee years of fighting.

The pope blessed the white-painted, Lamborghini Huracan, which perfectly matched his white cassock outside the Casa Santa Marta, the guesthouse within the Vatican where he lives.

Officials from the luxury sports car maker presented Francis with the sleek white car with papal yellow-gold detailing on Wednesday, outside the Vatican hotel where he lives where the pope promptly blessed it.

Base prices for the Huracan, which was first introduced in 2014, sells for around 183,000 euros ($217,000.) A special edition built for a papal charity would be expected to fetch far more at auction.

Francis got around his native Buenos Aires in Argentina on public transport and has long railed against people who buy the latest model cars or cellphones. As pope, he uses a blue Ford Focus inside the Vatican walls, and has made a statement on all his foreign trips by shunning fancy, bullet-proof SUVs and opting instead for modest Fiats or KIAs.

Historically, popes moved around on a "sedia gestatoria", a ceremonial red silk-covered throne which was carried on shoulders until the 20th century, when it was swapped for the popemobile.