Reuters reports that "a second hand car once said to be registered in the name of Joseph Kardinal Ratzinger -- the new Pope Benedict - is up for sale on eBay and the sky seems to be the limit when it comes to bidding."
The vehicle, a metallic gray 1999 Volkswagen Golf, went up for auction on the German site (www.ebay.de) at a minimum price of 9,900 euros ($12,790) on Wednesday and, just over 24 hours and more than 300 bids later, the price had hit one million euros ($1.3 million).
German Web Site n-tv.de identified the seller as Benjamin Halbe, 21, from the town of Olpe in Germany's Sauerland region, who said he bought the car from a local dealer in January.
"It drives like heaven," the site quoted Halbe as saying.
According to DW-World, "the former Cardinal Ratzinger's private secretary had long been a customer of the dealership and, although it is well known in church circles that the pope does not have a drivers license, it is believed the Golf was used to ferry the Holy Father-to-be around before at some point in 1999."
eBay.de describes the vehicle as a two liter petrol-powered manual, with 75,000 km (47,000 miles) on the clock since it was first registered in March 1999.
