An iPad once owned by Pope Francis garnered $30,500 at an auction in Uruguay on Tuesday.
The tablet was inscribed with the words "Su Santidad (His Holiness) Francisco. Servizio Internet Vaticano, March 2013," and was accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by Francis' personal secretary, Fabian Pedacchio Leaniz.
"May you do something good with it," the pontiff reportedly told Uruguayan priest Gonzalo Aemilius when he gave him the iPad.
Aemilius donated the iPad—which retails for less than $500—to Francisco de Paysandu High School in Uruguay. The school tried to auction the device through premier companies Christie's and Sotheby's before using Castells, a local auction house.
The buyer's location and identity were withheld, and the winning bid was placed by phone.
Francis has called the internet a "gift from God," but admitted that he is not technologically savvy.
"I am old-fashioned when it comes to computers," he told a group of children during a Google Hangouts session in February. "I'm a dinosaur. I don't know how to work a computer. What a pity, huh?"
Although he acknowledged the usefulness of technology, Francis has also warned against its pitfalls.
In August 2014, he implored altar servers not to spend too much time "chatting on the Internet or with smartphones, watching TV soap operas, and (using) the products of technological progress, which should simplify and improve the quality of life, but distract attention away from what is really important."
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI also used social media to reach people across the world, calling it "a great opportunity" for communities to establish a "Christian-style presence" online. Under his leadership, the papal Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook app were created. The accounts have millions of followers worldwide.
