An Apple iPad which belonged to Pope Francis will be auctioned in Uruguay on Tuesday at an initial asking price of around $20,000 with proceeds going to a school for the poor, the local auction house selling the item said.

It is not the first time Pope Francis, who has often criticized orthodox market economics for fostering inequality, has donated a personal belonging. Last year, a Harley-Davidson motorbike he had received as a gift fetched 241,500 euros ($257,681).

"May you do something good with it," Uruguayan priest Gonzalo Aemilius recalled being told by the Argentina-born pope when he handed over the iPad.

Aemilius in turn donated the tablet to the Francisco de Paysandu high school, located about 370 kilometers (230 miles)north of the capital, Montevideo.

School officials said that after a string of failed attempts to sell the iPad through auction houses Christie's and Sotheby's they were offering the iPad through local auction house Castells.

The device carries the inscription "His Holiness Francisco. Servizio Internet Vatican, March 2013," and has a certificate signed by the Pope's personal secretary, Fabián Pedacchio Leaniz.

"It is an object that has undoubtedly attracted interest nationally and internationally," said auctioneer Juan Castells. "The base (price) is going to be around $20,000."