One of the many odd and interesting items of Katholic Kitsch you can buy at the Vatican Gift Shop. The Popener is a small, clunky church key, most likely made out of tin. A silver medallion emblazoned with the Pope's head adorns the handle. Gilt paint covers the rest of the Popener. On mine, the paint has worn off in places, and the flat, grey color of the base metal shows through.
It's been said that the Pope blesses every beer opened with a Popener. While the logic behind this is more than a little dubious, it does make for a good ice-breaker at parties. In application, a Popener is practically foolproof. Even I can use one without grievous injury occurring to either myself or my drinks.
I purchased my own Popener around five years ago, paying a few hundred lire for the official Vatican model. The street vendors who clustered around the entrance to Vatican City sold cheaper, "unofficial" openers along with their glow-in-the dark scapulars and figurines of the Blessed Virgin. If you bought one of those, it was best not to look too closely at which Pope was pictured on the handle and hope none of the cheap gilt flaked off into your beer. Current prices for a Popener are probably around two to three euros.
a picture of the Popener can be found at http://www.tackytreasures.com/tackyhtml/tackyimages/popener-3684.jpg.
This has been a node by the Former Catholic Schoolgirls Rescue League of E2. "More often than not, we're down on our knees."