Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
A gust of wind blows Pope Francis' cassock as he leads his general audience in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican June 17. (CNS photo/Max Rossi, Reuters)

VATICAN CITY (RNS) — Countless pictures document the struggle: For decades, popes have suffered embarrassment and even frustration when their light, shoulder-length mantle, inspired by a sudden gust of wind, smacked them right in the face as they greeted world leaders or waved to crowds while cameras whirred.

Pope Francis was not spared during his appearances on his history-making visit to Iraq over the past week, as he was often whipped about the head and shoulders, fussing with and generally playing second fiddle to the gyrations of his cape.

Popes wear the pellegrina, an ivory-colored mantle named for the traditional attire of Christian pilgrims, over their cassocks. Bishops and cardinals wear a black pellegrina with purple or red lining for formal events. Because of the circular design and lightweight material of the pellegrina, which opens at the front, the wind easily sweeps beneath it, making the liturgical vestment the ecclesial equivalent of Marilyn Monroe’s iconic white dress.

Papal tailors near the Vatican told Religion News Service that despite the frequency with which the pellegrina turns against its wearer, it remains — in Catholic terms — a relatively recent phenomenon that underlines ongoing developments in papal attire.

Countless pictures document the struggle: For decades, popes have suffered embarrassment when their light, shoulder-length mantle, inspired by a sudden gust of wind, smacked them right in the face.

“Once the material used was much heavier, like wool. Now we try to make it as light as possible because they are already dressed underneath,” said Laura Mancinelli, who runs her father’s famous Mancinelli shop for clergy attire a few steps from the Vatican.

“But obviously with the wind it flies all over the place,” she added.

Tailors have opted for lightweight and opaque fabrics for liturgical vestments because they are worn over regular clothes. Given the weight of the robes and the advanced age of popes and clergy in general, Mancinelli is hesitant to make adjustments to weight the mantle to hold its own against the wind.

“We are mostly concerned with how it falls, without any lines,” she said. “The effect risks being ruined if you put something underneath.”

Across the street from Mancinelli’s shop, at the well-known liturgical vestment store Comandini, the “kite effect” of the papal mantle is also considered “inevitable.”

The mantle is only attached to the cassock in two places, explained Dario Piccioni, an employee accustomed to selling garments to cardinals and bishops at the Vatican. “Since it’s short, you only need a little bit of wind and … ,” Piccioni said, imitating the rogue mantle, his laugh detectable beneath the mask.

“But maybe we could put a pin or Velcro,” he added, stating that “the issue has never been raised before.”

In the end, he said, decisions about these matters are made by the higher-ups at the Vatican. The Second Vatican Council, which sought to reconcile the Catholic Church with the challenges of modernity, made significant changes to the sometimes over-the-top attire worn by popes and clergy.

Pope Paul VI had an instrumental role in redefining the fashion choices of the pontiffs, eliminating the long trains that popes and cardinals used to wear during processions, which traditionally extended up to 23 feet long. He was also the first pope to hold public audiences in St. Peter’s Square from the high — and terribly gusty — window of the apostolic palace.

In the past, it was also uncommon for popes to leave the Vatican for long periods, let alone be constantly photographed while stepping out of an airplane or helicopter.

In the past, it was also uncommon for popes to leave the Vatican for long periods, let alone be constantly photographed while stepping out of an airplane or helicopter.

“It started with John Paul II, famous for his photos with the pellegrina flailing everywhere from the wind,” said Mancinelli, whose shop, founded in 1962, has had a front row seat to the many sartorial developments that have taken over the Catholic Church in the past decades.

St. John Paul II made more than 100 trips during his nearly 30-year pontificate, becoming also the first to address the wardrobe malfunctions related to flapping mantles and aerodynamic skullcaps, or zucchettos.

Despite being a bit of a clotheshorse, Pope Benedict XVI said when he announced his resignation in 2013 that he would give up the traditional mantle and silk sash, to differentiate himself from the pontiff, though he would continue to wear white.

Benedict had been a fan of the mozzetta, similar to the pellegrina but closed in the front, and dusted off the traditional velvet cape, which had fallen out of fashion under John Paul II, for Easter and Pentecost celebrations. The German pope was often seen sporting the red or white mozzetta lined with ermine fur, along with his scarlet leather loafers, earning him the title of Best Accessorizer of the Year by Esquire magazine in 2007.

Every pope leaves a mark on papal fashion, and Francis has chosen a simpler style that casts aside fanfare and drama in favor of comfort and practicality.

The pope’s mozzetta also used to have a large hood (cocullo) attached to it, which helped hold down the mantle on windy days, but the hood was later simplified to be little more than a symbolic flap at the back. But caps, velvet and fur weren’t enough to prevent Benedict’s mantle from rising up, at times resembling the bony frills of long extinct dinosaurs in Jurassic Park.

Every pope leaves a mark on papal fashion, and Francis has chosen a simpler style that casts aside fanfare and drama in favor of comfort and practicality.

“Unfortunately, and I say unfortunately because of my job, these things will become increasingly simple with time,” Mancinelli said, referring to how customers in her shop now favor synthetic fabrics and wooden pectoral crosses instead of silk sashes and golden rings.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if the pellegrina disappeared altogether someday,” she added.

As the Vatican embraces more practical designs and the number of experienced artisans dwindles, the Catholic Church will likely continue to experience a profound transformation of its traditional and liturgical vestments. But while tailors imagine the attire of the popes of tomorrow, viewers can still admire the fantastical twists and turns of the wind-wrought papal mantle.

More from America

We don’t have comments turned on everywhere anymore. We have recently relaunched the commenting experience at America and are aiming for a more focused commenting experience with better moderation by opening comments on a select number of articles each day.

But we still want your feedback. You can join the conversation about this article with us in social media on Twitter or Facebook, or in one of our Facebook discussion groups for various topics.

Or send us feedback on this article with one of the options below:

We welcome and read all letters to the editor but, due to the volume received, cannot guarantee a response.

In order to be considered for publication, letters should be brief (around 200 words or less) and include the author’s name and geographic location. Letters may be edited for length and clarity.

We open comments only on select articles so that we can provide a focused and well-moderated discussion on interesting topics. If you think this article provides the opportunity for such a discussion, please let us know what you'd like to talk about, or what interesting question you think readers might want to respond to.

If we decide to open comments on this article, we will email you to let you know.

If you have a message for the author, we will do our best to pass it along. Note that if the article is from a wire service such as Catholic News Service, Religion News Service, or the Associated Press, we will not have direct contact information for the author. We cannot guarantee a response from any author.

We welcome any information that will help us improve the factual accuracy of this piece. Thank you.

Please consult our Contact Us page for other options to reach us.

City and state/province, or if outside Canada or the U.S., city and country. 
When you click submit, this article page will reload. You should see a message at the top of the reloaded page confirming that your feedback has been received.

The latest from america

The 12 women whose feet were washed by Pope Francis included women from Italy, Bulgaria, Nigeria, Ukraine, Russia, Peru, Venezuela and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
"We, the members of the Society of Jesus, continue to be lifted up in prayer, in lament, in protest at the death and destruction that continue to reign in Gaza and other territories in Israel/Palestine, spilling over into the surrounding countries of the Middle East."
The Society of JesusMarch 28, 2024
A child wounded in an I.D.F. bombardment is brought to Al Aqsa hospital in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on March 25. (AP Photo/Ismael abu dayyah)
While some children have been evacuated from conflict, more than 1.1 million children in Gaza and 3.7 million in Haiti have been left behind to face the rampaging adult world around them.
Kevin ClarkeMarch 28, 2024
Easter will not be postponed this year. It will not wait until the war is over. It is precisely now, in our darkest hour, that resurrection finds us.
Stephanie SaldañaMarch 28, 2024