• last week
With a tape measure around his neck and a thimble on his finger, Raniero Mancinelli slides a needle into a black cassock with red piping destined for a Catholic cardinal. Mancinelli, one of Rome's last ecclesiastical tailors, has dressed many popes and clergymen since he opened his business in 1962.
Transcript
00:00I found it a few days ago. It's beautiful.
00:15Both the priest and the bishop and the cardinal rely a little on professionalism.
00:34They are the same who rely on me. I know what I have to give.
00:38It's based on their place, their climate, their economic situation.
01:08Sometimes the priest uses a fabric, even if he doesn't want to.
01:14Pope Francis likes very simple things.
01:18But sometimes I use special fabrics, a little expensive.
01:24Because he's always the Pope, even if he says no.
01:29It's difficult to choose the color. You have to make a very specific color.
01:36The cardinal had a red robe with a long tail, 6-7 meters of silk.
01:44It took a lot of time to make it.
01:47But Paolo Sesso liked all these things in the maximum simplicity.
01:52And with Pope Francis it was even more simplified.
01:56What, for example?
01:58It's easier, cheaper, less flashy, less flashy.
02:11Do you know that it's difficult to find people now?
02:14This is a cardinal's tablecloth.
02:17These are the sleeves.

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