A brand-new, special edition Lamborghini Huracan presented to Pope Francis will be auctioned off and the proceeds donated to charity. Part of the funds raised from the Sotheby’s auction will go to the “Return to the Roots” project run by the charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). This project helps displaced Christians go back to their original villages and recover their dignity after the devastation caused by the Islamic State group.
“We have thanked the Holy Father and assured him that we will use his gift well – by bringing thousands more Christians back to Nineveh,” said Alfredo Mantovano and Alessandro Monteduro, president and director of ACN Italy, who were present this morning (Wednesday 15th November) at the delivery of the sleek, white car with yellow-gold markings to Casa Santa Marta in the Vatican.
It is not the first time that Pope Francis has supported persecuted Christians in Iraq through the Pontifical Foundation ACN. In 2016, he donated € 100,000 to the Saint Joseph Hospital in Erbil, where thousands of refugees are being treated.
The Pope´s words of encouragement for the ambitious ACN plan for the reconstruction of the Christian villages of the Nineveh Plains were also transmitted in September through the Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin. He took part in ACN’s international conference on the so-called “Marshall Plan” to help Iraq’s Christians.
“During today’s meeting we showed Pope Francis the first achievements of our project and the photos of the first families to come home,” Mantovano and Monteduro said. “We also want to stress, together with the Holy Father, that our plan is the result of a significant process of reconciliation and forgiveness, and the result of an agreement between local Churches, whose priests and religious collaborate actively, and work together to practically assist Iraq’s Christians”.
ACN also thanked the sports-car maker Lamborghini. The president and director of ACN Italy said: “The gift to the Pope by the car manufacturer is a good example of how big companies can actually help Christians who suffer.”
