Pope Francis, when it comes to Vatican attire, prefers a simplistic approach

ROME — On Monday afternoon, Massimiliano Gammarelli, the head tailor of the family that has been dressing pontiffs for centuries, ran a lint brush over the white cassock that Pope Francis will wear at his installation Mass on Tuesday. He clipped stray threads with shears and yelled at a priest who bent down to kiss the hem. (“Don’t dirty it!”) As his cousins checked their watches, he meticulously folded the frock, wrapped it in tissue paper and packed it into a silver box for delivery to the Vatican.

In his first week as pope, Francis’s inclination toward simple cassocks has led the Vatican, cardinals and church watchers to see substance in his pared-down style and insist that the clothes really do make the infallible man. But while some of the church’s leaders have cheered his humbler fashion sense, Francis’s preference for dressing down could be bad news for some of the prelates who like to dress up — not to mention the vestment purveyors who clothe them.

Latest stories from Foreign

Karzai suspends talks with U.S.; Taliban rockets kill 4 Americans

Tim Craig and Ernesto Londoño

Afghan president apparently angered by U.S. overtures to Taliban, establishment of office in Qatar.

In Turkey, protesters try a new approach: Standing still

Michael Birnbaum

As Erdogan’s opponents shift their tactics, the prime minister says he wants to expand police powers.

World Digest: June 18, 2013

Haq Nawaz Khan

Suicide bombers strike Shiite mosque in Iraqi capital; blast at funeral in northwestern Pakistan kills 29.

In Israel, mixed signals on prospect for peace

William Booth and Ruth Eglash

As the United States seeks to restart peace talks, Israeli ministers disagree on whether the idea is dead or alive.

G-8 leaders call for Syria peace talks

Scott Wilson

In a concession to Russia, Obama and European leaders do not call for Bashar al-Assad to step down.

“He’s like a king. He decides and we obey,” Gammarelli said as he leaned against shelves stocked with expensive violet, pink, green and red fabrics. “If the cardinals start coming in asking for new clothes, we’ll know that he has asked them to add things. But if he wants them to remove things, how will I know?”

Gammarelli said he had heard rumors that the pope wanted a simpler dress code for his cardinals, but wouldn’t allow himself to get too concerned unless an edict was issued. “If so, we’ll adapt,” he said. “There’s no choice.”

A full-dress predecessor

Benedict XVI, who last month became the first pontiff to resign in 600 years, was a proponent of the restoration of the church’s older rites, and he reached deep into the church’s closet of vestments and regalia to emphasize its rich tradition.

He wore violet copes; blue, full-cut chasubles with abstract designs; and furry white Easter mozettas for the spring season. He donned an assortment of hats, including the camauro, a Santa Claus-esque red wool cap with an ermine trim that dated back to the 12th century; a red Saturno, a full-brimmed number named for ringed Saturn; and a precious mitre studded with jewels.

The emeritus pope, as Benedict is now known, is not the church’s only fashion plate. Cardinal Raymond Burke is perhaps best known for arguing, as archbishop of St. Louis, that Catholic politicians who supported abortion rights should be denied Communion. In Rome, where he is now prefect of the church’s tribunal, he has also earned a reputation for operatic regalia. He is one of the few cardinals who dons cappa ­magnas, the long trains of watered silk that can look like scarlet lava flowing down from his throne. His velvet gloves and extravagant brocades prompted Vatican officials to ask him to “tone it down a bit,” according to noted religion reporter David Gibson.

“The vestments, everything, are part of a tradition,” Burke told Gibson. “We need to understand that and not just discard it and say, ‘Well, it was all just an ugly accretion.’ ”

(“I’m sorry,” Burke said when reached by phone. “I won’t be able to respond.”)