Dumping ballast or denying tradition?

60 years ago, it was the cardinals' turn

Rom - With the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the splendour of the cardinalate literally came to an end. Sixty years ago, a notice in favour of more modesty arrived in the post - and that was just the beginning.

Published  on 02.02.2025 at 00:01  – by Alexander Brüggemann (KNA)

No more silk. Soutane, mantletta and mozetta only in wool, please. The black cardinal's hat with the red and gold cords: abolished. The red-trimmed shoes: no more, please. What Cardinal Dean Eugene Tisserant had sent by Vatican mail 60 years ago, on 2 February 1965, must not have been to the liking of many members of the Sacred College, including the 27 newly appointed ones.

And that was just the beginning. They had to endure several more similar dress codes in the years that followed. In the course of the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the splendour of the cardinalate was literally brought to an end.

It was already clear in principle: In vestimentis non est sapientia mentis - the wisdom of the mind is not in the clothes someone wears. And yet, according to the old view, the pompous robes of the papal senators reflected the centuries-old tradition of the Church - and therefore also its historical mission. The Council pointed a new way, or at least developed a new understanding of the Church: the people of God on their pilgrimage through time. And on such a long journey, it was time to shed the occasional ballast.

Papal crown discarded

Paul VI (1963-1978), who discarded his papal crown, the tiara, and gave it away for sale in favour of the poor, also attached great importance to "noble simplicity" and "authenticity of the sign" in his clergy. A letter from the Vatican Secretariat of State on the dress code in the era of 1968 reads as follows: "The modern mentality (...) demands that possible extremes (...) be avoided, and wants correctness and decency to be in harmony with simplicity, practicality and the spirit of humility and poverty."

Bild: ©KNA

Pope Paul VI was the first pope to take off his tiara. He sold it and donated the money to the poor.

One might rightly lament how much of true beauty and historical as well as material value has gone the way of temporal things since this Roman cultural revolution. So now cotton in short-lived designs instead of brocade, silk and precious embroidery.

The pontificate of John Paul II of Poland (1978-2005) was still characterised by this new simplicity. His brown calfskin kicks became legendary. His successor Benedict XVI (2005-2013), however, took the opposite approach. One of his central messages - as a theologically influential participant in the Council - was the so-called hermeneutics of continuity: the Second Vatican Council had in no way broken with church tradition, but was in line with the proclamation through the centuries.

Set of traditional accessories

With this in mind, Benedict XVI - who as a curia cardinal had always dressed very modestly in everyday life - now, as pope, made virtuoso use of the box of traditional accessories. He often combined the insignia of his predecessors in a subtle way, as if to show the history of the Church: The church changes, but it always remains itself. The only problem was that many in the Curia, like a court, followed the fashionable example of their sovereign. Tassels and lace bonnets have found their way back into the Vatican through the back door, so to speak.

The outsider Pope Francis has been making a new attempt since 2013. It is not only in his philippic about illnesses in the Curia that he calls for simplicity and authentic priesthood. He preaches a dented church in its commitment to those in need. And he even exhorted newly appointed cardinals to a modest celebration - as befits the servant character of their new dignity. Little to celebrate these days for the Roman noble tailors in the shadow of Bernini's colonnades.

by Alexander Brüggemann (KNA)