Ecclesiastical tailor who’s dressed 3 popes and new cardinals for decades on their tastes

In Rome, Raniero Mancinelli has sewn robes for popes and priests, including new cardinals, for 62 years. He’s seen clerical fashion evolve

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One of the last ecclesiastical tailors in Rome, Raniero Mancinelli has made cassocks, collars and robes for generations of clergymen, including three popes and some of the new cardinals Pope Francis will appoint on December 7, 2024. Photo: AFP

Published: 5:15pm, 7 Dec 2024Updated: 6:36pm, 9 Dec 2024

With a tape measure around his neck and thimble on his finger, Raniero Mancinelli slides a needle into a black cassock with red piping destined for a Catholic cardinal.

“It takes two or three days to make an outfit: taking the measurements, cutting it out, and putting it all together,” according to the 86-year-old Italian, one of the last ecclesiastical tailors in Rome.

Mancinelli has been working flat out in his historic shop on the Borgo Pio, a stone’s throw from the Vatican, ahead of a ceremony on December 7 to make 21 new cardinals. A third of those being elevated by Pope Francis have placed orders with the tailor.

“They trust me and I know what I have to do, depending on where they live, the climate, their financial means,” said Mancinelli, bushy black eyebrows moving animatedly above rectangular glasses, his hands stroking a tiny silver goatee.

Raniero Mancinelli works on a cardinal’s cassock in his shop in Borgo Pio. Photo: AFP

Ciboriums and chalices on sale at the shop of the Italian ecclesiastical tailor. Photo: AFP

Gold chalices, embroidered headdresses, signet rings and rosaries with gleaming crucifixes fill the shop’s display cases.