Zeffirelli: Pope Benedict Needs Makeover

I read this yesterday, and I still can't believe it. From the wires of the Associated Press, we get reports that filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli appears between assignments. Now he wants to be a fashion consultant to His Holiness.

"Even his wardrobe needs to be revised," the 84-year-old Zeffirelli was quoted as saying. "These are not times of high-tailored church wear." Instead, his vestments should reflect "sobriety," the director said. "The papal vestments have been done over to be too sumptuous and showy." John Paul II, often spontaneous and sometimes outdoorsy, had little use for fancy papal attire. But Benedict has taken to wearing some eye-stopping outfits in his public appearances, including a red velvet cape trimmed with ermine, a fur-trimmed stocking cap that some first mistook for a Santa Claus hat, and bright red Prada loafers...

Prada????

The pope has simply revived much of the papal attire that was common until the previous pontificate. This includes red slippers with white stockings, and the "red velvet cape trimmed with ermine."

Yo, Frankie, it's called a "mozzetta."
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