As conclave nears, new pope's cassock comes in three sizes

ROME (CNS) — The rules and rituals for the election of a new pope say that immediately after his election, he goes into the sacristy of the Sistine Chapel and puts on “the garments that are appropriate to him.”

That’s all that is written.

For more than 100 year that meant that the Gammarelli family’s clerical tailor shop near the Pantheon in Rome had already sent to the Vatican three white wool cassocks — large, medium and small — with an attached capelet.

But Lorenzo Gammarelli, who now runs the shop with three cousins, told Agence France-Presse April 24 that they will not be sending the customary three cassocks to the Vatican ahead of the conclave scheduled to begin May 7.

“We were told by the Vatican that they have taken care of it,” he told AFP, explaining that he believes the vestments for the new pope would “be those of the previous conclaves, because each time we made three robes, and they used only one.”

Not receiving an order has not stopped Raniero Mancinelli, though.

From his tailor and religious goods shop in the Borgo Pio, near the Vatican, he told Catholic News Service May 2 that he has sewn vestments for Pope Francis, Pope Benedict XVI and St. John Paul II, and he was preparing the set of three — small, medium and large — just in case.

He is sizing for the next pope’s girth, not height, he said, because when the new pope appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica no one will notice how long the cassock is. “Later, the right size will be made.”

Mancinelli said he would deliver the lightweight wool cassocks, with appropriately calibrated sashes and white zucchettos, or skullcaps, to the Vatican liturgy office before the conclave begins.

He’s been a tailor for some 70 years, since he was 15 years old.

The tailor said he once tried to persuade Pope Francis to let him make a pair of white or cream-colored trousers, since the pope’s black slacks were often visible beneath his cassock, especially in bright sunlight. “But he told me he was fine with the way it was.”

Mancinelli is one of the few people working near the Vatican who is not thinking about which cardinal might be elected.

When he is sewing, he said, he does not have a specific person in mind and is not “dreaming” of who might wear his garment.

“I do my work with passion, I like it, and I concentrate on the work, not the person,” he said, adding that focus is especially important when handling papal garments because they are white and easy to stain.

Because the three garments were not an order, Mancinelli said they will be a gift, one he is offering “very gladly because serving the church is a great honor for me.”