Popemobile Popemobile A popemobile (from "pope" and "automobile") is a specially designed motor vehicle used by the Roman Catholic Pope during public appearances. It is usually considered as the successor to the antiquated "sedia gestatoria" and was designed to allow the pope to be more visible when greeting large crowds. There have been many different designs for popemobiles since Pope Paul VI first used a modified Lincoln Continental to greet crowds in New York City in 1965. Some are open air while others have bulletproof glass walls to enclose the pope (deemed necessary after the 1981 Pope John Paul II assassination
Society for the Study of Black Religion The group chose the name "religion" rather than "theology" to avoid the constraints imposed by the narrower term. Charles Shelby Rooks, who would later become the first African-American head of a traditionally white-led seminary at the Chicago Theological Seminary, took a leading role in the founding and served as the SSBR's first elected president. Society for the Study of Black Religion The Society for the Study of Black Religion is the oldest scholarly society dedicated to the study of the African-American religious experience. It is dedicated to "scholarly research and discussion about the religious experiences of Blacks." The SSBR was