Pope Francis rides open-top vehicle back to Nunciature from MOA

Pope Francis waves to Filipinos as he rides his Popemobile back to the Apostolic Nunciature after attending the “Meeting with Families” in Manila, Philippines on Friday, Jan. 16, 2015. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)

MANILA, Philippines—Deviating once more from the intended itinerary, Pope Francis rode his open-top popemobile for the motorcade from Mall of Asia Arena to the Apostolic Nunciature after the meeting with families.

The original plan, as earlier reported, was that the “Pope of surprises”—as he is often called—would leave for the Apostolic Nunciature at 6:45 p.m. in a Volkswagen Touran, a multipurpose vehicle (MPV) and one of three popemobiles to be used during the visit.

The Pope arrived at the Apostolic Nunciature at 7:30 p.m., 30 minutes behind schedule.

The open-topped popemobile is a customized white Isuzu D-Max. The vehicle has an elevated platform and does not sport windows, which allows the Pope to reach out to the thousands of people lining the motorcade’s route.

Riding the open vehicle was not the Pope’s first deviation from his itinerary on Friday. Earlier after the Mass at Manila Cathedral, Pope Francis visited street children at a center run by ANAK-Tnk charitable foundation, according to a report from Radio Vatican.