What will pope benedict wear

Still others, such as the gay blogger Andrew Sullivan, have speculated that Benedict is himself gay. Aesthetics shows rather than tells, delights rather than instructs.

The effects are immediate, perceptual and emotional. Over the last couple of decades, the Roman Catholic Church has been besmirched with ugliness, scarred by clerical sexual predation abetted by clueless and self-promoting bishops. Benedict has used beauty to demonstrate tangibly that the Catholic faith that he and the members of his church share is itself beautiful and indestructible, and that it shines through despite all human efforts to wreck it.

It is especially fitting for our time that the pope has chosen his own liturgical apparel as an aesthetic medium. In the world of what passes for sophisticated culture these days, beauty and art have become nearly unmoored from each other. Art is supposed to be transgressive, while beauty is judged merely ornamental. Only in the decorative and useful arts — jewelry, fabrics, home furnishings, clothing, the design of cars, machines, and even humble objects — are beauty and fine craftsmanship still the criteria by which we judge value.

Pope Benedict XVI has been the pope of aesthetics, the pope who plays Mozart on the piano for his own private entertainment and who can write theological books in such lucid, limpid prose that ordinary people can read them for pleasure. Charlotte Allen writes frequently about feminism, politics and religion. Column: Fraternities are incubators of sexual assault and other violence. Why is USC defending them?

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Highly theatrical robes were considered too outre. Out went anything that made church leaders look like Cardinal Richelieu. As a priest friend of mine puts it: "The Church processed into the second Vatican council in cloth of gold and watered silk, and shambled out of the other end in drip-dry horse blankets and polyester.

Benedict's desire to recapture the Church's traditional liturgy and doctrine goes hand in hand with what he wore as pope. On his election in , he wore Ming the Merciless-style vestments left over from John Paul's administration, and after getting rid of his first master of ceremonies, Piero Marini, who had subjected him to a sort of blue dust-sheet for his first papal mass in Austria, he turned to Guido Marini no relation — an MC who understood the power of tradition.

At a time of global economic uncertainty, and with the Church struggling to retain its flock in an increasingly secularised world, reinforcing tradition and underlining the continuity of ritual was a bold and, Benedict felt, necessary direction. After this, his sartorial choices coaxed the Church out of a s time warp. My favourite item from his wardrobe is a short cape known as a mozzetta , the winter version of which is fur-lined, ermine-trimmed and made of crimson silk.

Equally glamorous is the papal pallium , a thick band that encircles the neck with pendants at the end, which is traditionally made of white wool from sheep raised by trappist monks. Papal rings, diamond, sapphire and ruby pectoral crosses, the all-important golden mitres with more jewels : he was a truly bling pope. A young priest told me a story about when, before celebrating mass at St Peter's, he had the honour of preparing his vestments in the presence of His Holiness.

Pope Benedict came down to the sacristy in a lift, as usual, and had three sets of vestments and mitres set out to choose from. He went straight for the most elaborate. This love of gothic vestments was about more than basic vanity; beauty and dignity reflect the splendour and mystery of liturgy.

To Benedict this is God-focused rather than community-centred, as was favoured by the generation. Though not usually in sync with the fashion world, the Vatican is currently bang on trend. A return to quality, an interest in heritage, and support of artisanal craftsman could not be more now — look to Chanel, McQueen, Valentino for examples.

Lace and velvet are everywhere — from the pope to Paris, they are the height of chic. Despite this, Benedict wisely stayed clear of actual designers. In the Italian film director Franco Zeffirelli offered his services as a consultant to the Vatican.

Having previously designed the staging for mass ceremonies under John Paul II, it was suspected that Zeffirelli wanted to play down Benedict's "showy" image. The Vatican politely declined. Perhaps they had learned from a state visit to Paris in , when quirky designer Jean-Charles de Castelbajac France's answer to Vivienne Westwood , persuaded John Paul II, 5, priests and bishops to dress in rainbow cross motif vestments in what the designer later explained was a symbol of "God's promise of peace to Noah".

When Castelbajac pointed out that the vestments clearly used the international symbol of gay liberation, the rainbow flag, the Vatican responded that no one had a copyright on the rainbow. So what can we expect from the next pope, both the man and the wardrobe?