Pope's Car for Sale on eBay - GoldenPalace.com is Seller

Would you like to own a grey 1999 Volkswagen Golf car? What if that car once belonged to Cardinal Josef Ratzinger? Well, what if I told you that Cardinal Ratzinger later changed him name to Pope Benedict XVI?

Back in May of 2005, 21-year-old Benjamin Halbe placed the car up for auction on eBay. Millions of bidders (not to mention curious bystanders) logged onto the auction. In fact, the 8.5 million visitors made this the all-time most visited auction in the history of eBay. A fierce bidding war commenced and, not surprisingly, Golden Palace Casino came out on top with a bid of 188,938 Euros (equal to $244,524 in U.S. dollars).

Golden Palace Online Casino is famous (some would say infamous) for their publicity stunts. These have included hiring a streaker to crash the Super Bowl, paying someone to tattoo the name of the casino on their forehead, and paying $650,000 to name a new species of monkey after the casino.

Golden Palace has now announced that it is re-listing the Pope Mobile on eBay. While they are sure to get a big chunk of publicity, they will be donating all proceeds from the sale to Habitat for Humanity Great Britain.

Not surprisingly, the car has changed a bit since Halbe owned it. It is now covered with advertising, the words “Pope Benedict Mobile,” and numerous photos of the pontiff.

The auction is currently running on eBay and will close on April 10th at 7pm. As of this writing, the bidding had passed the $160,000 mark.

Halbe, the car’s former owner, told reporters that he was happy the car was being sold for a good cause.

“At first, I was surprised, but now I’m excited to see how many bids will be made and how high the price will go,” he said.

Pope's Car for Sale on eBay - GoldenPalace.com is Seller