The Pope’s clothing traditionally leave the expert hands of the Gammarelli tailors, from Rome, but this time the Vatican will wear previous conclaves cassocks.
A wink to the marked concern of the late Francisco for the environment? “I imagine it,” said Lorenzo Gammarelli, who directs, along with his three cousins, this store founded in 1798.
Once the exequias of the Argentine Jesuit are concluded, the choice of his successor will be convened, with cardinals around the world.
The Gammarelli work at full speed to dress them with their red jackets, but at this point they would also be working on a new package of papal costumes for the chosen one.
During generations, the tailors have prepared three cassocks so that the new pontiff can leave the balcony of the Basilica of San Pedro, regardless of their size: whether high, medium or low.
In the minutes following his choice, the new Pope has hurriedly placed the outfit that best remains, to make his first appearance after the expected scream of Habemus Papam.
“We have dressed each Pope since the beginning of the twentieth century,” Gammarelli told AFP.
On this occasion, “the Vatican told us that they had dealt with it,” he said.
He believes that the clothes of the new Pope will be “those of the previous conclaves.” “We made three robes every time and they used only one,” he says.
It is the first time they run out of request. In the past they commissioned less than three because they “clearly had some” still available, explained the 52 -year -old Sastre.
Francisco disdained excesses and hated waste. Therefore, Gammarelli does not rule out that it is a tribute to the pontiff.
Papable sizes
The portraits of the potatoes are aligned on the walls of the store, located by steps of the pantheon tourist.
Their shelves are full of colorful fabrics, while the showcases exhibit socks designed for all types of Catholic outfits, from potatoes and bishops to priests and seminarists.
The new pontiffs wear the cassock with a slave or short layer, a white silk sash and a white solid.
Take normally about three and a half days cut the fabric for a complete cassock, prepare it and sew it by hand.
“As we do not know who will be the new Holy Father, we look at the possible contestants, we take the measures we can and make more or less adequate costumes,” said Gammarelli.
However, he added: “You can always choose someone not planned or have completely different measures.”
Gammarelli estimates that the Vatican must have someone to adjust the cassock if necessary when the new Pope is put in for the first time.
The precedent Roncalli
When the Italian Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli was chosen as Pope John XXIII, in 1958, he was “one of the possible candidates” contemplated in that conclave.
“We had made one of the three Sotanas exactly to their measure,” says Gammarelli. “But in the heat of the moment, they put another one that didn’t look good and had to cut their backs and light the suit with pins so that it could appear on the balcony.”
The Vatican called his grandfather, who then drove the store. “But what happened? It is not possible!” He recalls what he said. He went to the Holy See and noticed that they took the wrong box.
“Since then we have put a label with the name of the most likely candidate,” he explained.
This year is a jubilee and the family was already working at full speed even without anticipating a conclave.
And after Francisco’s death, Gammarelli admitted that he was “a little disappointed” not to dress the successor.
“We will see for the next one,” said the tailor, who assumed with his cousins the control of the store in 2016.
The showcase that used to show the three cassas before being sent to the Vatican today exhibits a lonely cap, which Francisco commissioned, but never used.