God’s Pontifista starts cassock war over papal robes

Pope Benedict's fondness for designer shades and Prada shoes is winning him fans in the fashion world but he has started "cassock wars" in Rome by dumping the services of the papal robemakers - in the job for 215 years - and going to a tailor who has been in business for only 20.

"It is clear that he likes wearing nice threads and expensive sunglasses and publicly he has been celebrating Mass in some elegant new vestments tailormade inside the Vatican," says the Catholic newspaper Tablet.

Out of favour is Annibale Gammarelli, the ecclesiastical outfitter that has been making papal cassocks since 1792, in favour of Mancinelli, a small shop that has been going for only two decades.

"Gammarelli's cassocks are sewn beyond all the rules of tailoring art," Raniero Mancinelli says. "The Pope was visibly not comfortable in them, so he came to us and is breaking with tradition."

In addition to designer sunglasses, the Pope has favoured padded quilt jackets, jumpsuits, baseball caps and Red Prada shoes.

- Independent