Well that belongs to the Vatican(the throne) not the Pope so he did not get rid of it he just does not use it.
You know this reminds me of a book I found and scanned through once it was claiming how the Catholic Church was supporting communism by helping poor people and what not.

It was obliviously propaganda written by a hard core anti-communist anti-Catholic Protestant.I do not recall the exact title but it was a 1970's era book it does not matter anyway as it was nothing more than a propaganda rag.
I am not a Catholic by the way but I have no problem with Catholics or any religion really unless your goal is to make
Hello Kitty real or something like that.