Vatican City, 06 May, 2025 / 7:57 pm (ACI Africa).
At 89 Via Borgo Pio, located a few steps from Porta Santa Anna leading to the Vatican, is Mancinelli Clergy, the iconic shop that embodies the history and tradition of ecclesiastical tailoring in Rome.
Behind a time-worn wooden counter, surrounded by tall glass cases displaying all kinds of religious articles — cassocks, scarlet caps, skullcaps, embroidered chasubles, and pectoral crosses — stands tailor Raniero Mancinelli, tasked with making the next pope’s habit.
With a measuring tape around his neck, Mancinelli welcomed ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, and shared the details of a craft he has been performing for more than six decades. “I’ve dressed John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Pope Francis… and this will be the fourth,” he commented proudly.
“It’s almost ready; there’s very little left, although we still have a few days to go, because I don’t think they’ll choose him on the first day,” Mancinelli assured a few days before the beginning of the conclave.
With a slow but steady pace, he heads toward the workshop, located at the back of the building, where, amid spools of thread, white fabrics, and patterns, the cassock, sash, and skullcap (“zuchetto” in Italian), the small round cap that will crown the head of the next successor of Peter, are all taking shape.
