At 89 Via Borgo Pio, located a few steps from Porta Santa Anna leading to the Vatican, is Mancinelli Clergy, the iconic shop that embodies the history and tradition of ecclesiastical tailoring in Rome.
Behind a time-worn wooden counter, surrounded by tall glass cases displaying all kinds of religious articles — cassocks, scarlet caps, skullcaps, embroidered chasubles, and pectoral crosses — stands tailor Raniero Mancinelli, tasked with making the next pope’s habit.
With a measuring tape around his neck, Mancinelli welcomed ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, and shared the details of a craft he has been performing for more than six decades. “I’ve dressed John Paul II, Benedict XVI, Pope Francis… and this will be the fourth,” he commented proudly.
