On 30 November, a charity auction made a new world record. Pope Francis’s watch was sold at a charity auction. The LaViolette Scholarship Foundation auctioned off a Swatch Once Again model watch that Pope Francis used for much of his pontificate.
The watch, which can be found at the brand’s official store for $55, was finally sold for $56,250, making it the Swatch watch for which more money has been paid.
Bishop David Ricken, Bishop of Green Bay (Wisconsin), sent a letter to the Holy Father in May telling him about the life of Brian LaViolette, a teenage watch collector who died at the age of 15 in a swimming accident.
In the letter, Bishop Ricken asked the Pope to donate one of his cheapest watches to be auctioned by the foundation, for helping students who aspire to enter university.
The Holy Father agreed to the request and his watch was auctioned along with those of famous people such as Fred Savage, Joe Theismann, Terry Bradshaw, Condoleezza Rice, Randall Park, among others.
It is not the first time that Pope Francis donates his belongings to be auctioned.
The last auction of Pope’s belonging happened in November 2017, Lamborghini gave one of its most exclusive cars to the Supreme Pontiff, who decided to auction it off to allocate the money to numerous social works.