Pope Francis and leather. An enduring, but often revolutionary relationship, starting with the color of his shoes: no more the red preferred by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI. The assumed goal was to communicate simplicity and humility, in line with his mission: a more inclusive Catholicism. And then there was that time he received the Leather Chemists in private audience. Until the fake mystery of the black leather bag.
Pope Francis and leather
A month after his election on March 13, 2013, Pope Francis launches his first message with the color of his shoes: it will be a pontificate of humility and inclusiveness. In fact, Bergoglio phoned Carlos Samaria, his trusted shoemaker for 40 years in Buenos Aires, and told him, “No red shoes, black as always”. And Samaria responded to the journalists’ curiosity this way: “The Pope’s shoes have a simple cut: they are calfskin leather with a smooth upper, without decorations. He doesn’t want new shoes, he always wants me to repair his old ones, but now I am making him a simple plain pair”, (source La Stampa). The black shoes are a profound change from the red ones worn by his predecessor Pope Benedict XVI, and they identify a completely opposite style and thinking.
Meeting with chemists
Leather chemists know about colors: it was January 29, 2022 when AICC – Italian Leather Chemists Association was received in private audience by the Pontiff at the Vatican. The association also involves a representation of the Italian tanning supply chain: UNIC – Italian Tanneries, Assomac, Unpac and the Veneto Leather District. “As a young man, I studied in a technical institute with a chemical address, and this brings me a little closer to your category”, the Pontiff exhorted at the time.
The Pope’s shoes
Speaking of Pope Ratzinger’s red shoes, they were made by Novara shoemaker Adriano Stefanelli. In 2021, Stefanelli himself claimed to have made a pair of symbolic (leather) slippers for Pope Francis. Footwear for Pope Francis has also arrived from Montegranaro (Fermo), made by artisan Giancarlo Del Sorce, who also delivered to the Vatican about a hundred shoes for the Papal Pantry, which were then distributed, writes Corriere Adriatico. From Lazio, and more precisely from Frosinone, comes the wheelchair, covered in white leather, with which the Pope moved when he could not walk (source Frosinone Today).
The mystery of the bag
Tied to Pope Francis is also the fake mystery of the black leather bag. In 2013, Pope Bergoglio went to Brazil, and on the two trips (round trip) he got off the plane holding, in his right hand, a bag. But did it contain? Some had gone so far as to speculate that there were some secret documents in it, perhaps confidential papers about the IOR. But Bergoglio himself revealed the contents when answering journalists’ questions: “A razor, the breviary, an agenda, and a book to read, about St. Theresa”.
Photo by the Vatican
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