Vintage Vestments: The Philosophical Threads Woven Into Papal Garments

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Pope's Clothes Reflect Traditional Values

Pope Benedict XVI has subtly made a statement about values through his return to historical and traditional papal clothing.

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Ardovini was all chatty until she was asked about Benedict's red shoes, and rumors that they are Prada. (Most people who looked into this closely agreed that they're not.) "Please don't say that," she said, her smile fading. "It's blasphemous."

Certainly more attention is paid to Benedict than to the average clergyman, but any bishop or archbishop can wear clothing similar to what the pope is wearing, only with different adornments.

This all contrasts with Pope John Paul II, whose clothing choices were simpler. "He would just wear whatever was given to him," Ardovini said.

"John Paul was largely not proactive in liturgical choices. He was focused more on the bigger picture than Benedict," said the Rev. Keith Pecklers, a Jesuit professor of liturgy at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. "Benedict has a much keener interest in liturgy."

The buzz this has created can't be underestimated. Pecklers notes that he was once approached by an Orthodox bishop who said "you have no idea what it has meant to us" that Benedict is wearing an ancient form of pallium, or woolen cloak. The bishop told Pecklers that the clothing change, in the bishop's eyes, means Benedict wishes to unify the Eastern and Western churches.

You thought the cover of Vogue was influential. Many of the vestments Benedict has been wearing are in the Roman style, experts said, as opposed to the Gothic style that became more popular after the Second Vatican Council. However, Pecklers has written, sometimes Benedict picks items that combine Gothic and Roman, like the chasuble he wore on Ash Wednesday -- longer in the front than the so-called "fiddle-back" chasuble of the Roman period (named for its violin-like appearance) and wider at the bottom.

"On his mind very clearly is concern about growth of secularism in the developed world, loss of faith, loss of religious conviction," Pecklers said. "So there is clearly a sense of his returning to basic foundations, helping his flock return to what is foundational."

Whatever Benedict wears during his trip, it will be certainly dissected by bloggers like Rocco Palmo, who writes Whispers in the Loggia, a must-read for hard-core Catholics who want to know every piece of gossip about the church and which bishop is getting transferred where.

Last night, Palmo noted what Benedict wore to a meeting with bishops at the National Shrine: a white cassock, a linen and lace white alb (the layer over the cassock, but with sleeves), a fur mozzetta (or half-poncho) and a large cross with "major bling." Today, he said, Benedict's vestments would be watched by Catholics intrigued by ceremonial beauty. By those who want to "understand what is hidden." In other words, he said, "10,000 liturgy geeks."