temporarily a conclave blog i guess

“Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

Só estive pensando que o papado é uma cruz pesada demais para se carregar sozinho

Lawrellini enemies to lovers arc right after Pope Ratzi resignation, Thomas is secretary of the state, Aldo is archbishop of Milan and not a cardinal yet

Aldo got elevated to cardinal and became the secretary of the state

(I took one for the team)

This is a visual guide to clerical clothes, which has been created for 'Conclave' fanfic readers and writers (but it can be used for any work involving Catholic clergymen).

I'm going to use images from the movie (+ some images from visual novel 'Delectatio Morosa') and real life examples.

Spoilers, of course.

The Cassock

The cassock is a tunic, identical for everyone, except for the colour. Choir cassock is red for Cardinals and amaranth red for bishops.

The plain cassock is black, with hems and buttons of different colour for each hierarchical position. In warmer regions of the world, one can wear a white cassock, with a fascia of the colour of the position.

Members of an order may wear a religious habit instead of a cassock. And a cincture (a rope-like belt) instead of a fascia (large fringed sash worn with the cassock).

The Choir Dress

The choir dress is used for public prayer (like attending Mass), but not for the celebration of the Eucharist.

Rochet (/ˈrɒtʃət/): white laced vestment worn over the cassock. It arrives below the knee (Benítez's is longer than the cassock, covering it, because he wears borrowed clothes).

Mozzetta [motˈtsetta]: elbow-lenght cape closed with buttons, worn over the rochet. Its colour is the same as the choir cassock.

Biretta: a square cap with three/four peaks. Same colour as the mozzetta.

Zucchetto [dzukˈketto]: It's a hemisphere that sits on the head, usually made of silk. The central tip is called the stirpis.

Liturgical Vestment

Chasuble (/ˈtʃæzjʊbəl/): outer liturgical vestment, which goes over the knees and the wrists. It's more used now than the planet (the rigid one without sleeves). It is worn over the alb and stole. The colour depends on the Mass celebrated.

Alb (from Latin albus, ‘white’): it is an ankle-long white garment usually worn with a cincture.

Stole: long narrow strip of cloth worn over the alb, around the neck and over the shoulders. The colour varies depending on the celebration.

Mitre: headpiece that is tall and pointed at the tip. Used by bishops, archbishops and now the Pope as well (instead of the tiara).

Pastoral: staff used by bishops and archbishops, which has a curled tip. The Pope uses a type of staff with a cross known as ferula, although rarely.

Casual Attire

The clergyman is the modern priest attire. It consists of trousers, jacket and shirt with the clerical collar (a rigid white collar, the symbol of a priest).

Some priests completely discard the collar in favour of just wearing a cross or dressing no different than a "secular".

In particular cases, wearing a casual attire is more of a need than a choice: this is the case of Benítez, cardinal 'in pectore', who in the movie arrives in Rome with no clerical vestments.

Papal Attire

The white papal cassock look consists of:

Fascia: sometimes with his coat of arms on it.

Pellegrina: elbow-lenght open mantle, similar to a mozzetta.

Pectoral cross: silver or golden, given to the Pope or already in his possession.

Zucchetto

Fisherman's ring: on his right ring finger, the seal on the ring is broken when the Pope dies.

During official events, such as receiving guests:

Mozzetta: the Pope's is red and made of satin or velvet.

Pontifical stole: The Pope's stole is bigger, knee-lenght and usually red and gold.

Rochet: under the mozzetta and over the cassock.

Elements of his liturgical attire:

Ferula: instead of the bishop's pastoral, the Pope uses a long, silver or golden staff with Jesus on the cross.

Mitre: now used by the Pope as well, instead of the Papal tiara, after Paul VI deemed it as too luxurious and grand.

Throughout the centuries, the Pope's wardrobe has evolved, with the inclusion of new pieces and the removal of others. Changes are still made in the XXI Century, with each Pope having different opinions on what to wear: just look at the big contrast between Benedict's conservative style and Francis' refusal to wear unnecessary ornaments, a couple of which have already been reinstated by Leo.

Saturno: a wide red hat made of felt or straw, which hasn't been used in over a decade. Its sides can be lifted up by strings.

Camauro: red winter bonnet made with velvet and ermine. Not used today, probably for ethical reasons.

Pallium: made with the wool of blessed lambs, it has existed since the first centuries of Christian rule, now only used by the Pope and metropolitan archbishops.

Fanone: a silk white mozzetta-like piece, with red and gold stripes and a big cross on the front. After the Second Vatican Council, its use has been reduced.

Tabarro: red long cloak the Pope wears during cold weather, again never used in the last 10+ years.

Piviale: white and gold mantle used in some occasions, like when participating at a Mass but not as the one celebrating it.

Red shoes: probably the symbol of Francis' revolutionary take on papal clothes, since in the Room of Tears he decided to ditch the loafers for his own personal shoes, the same ones he was later buried with. Leo also wears his own pair of black shoes.

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Hi everyone, it's new book o'clock!!

My debut poetry collection, Differential Diagnosis, is coming out in March 2026 with Northwestern University Press/Curbstone Books, and I want you all to know about it –– especially if you've enjoyed my posts about Madness, transMadness, anti-psych, etc. You can read some of the poems from the collection here and here and here. And, of course, you can preorder (!!!!!) at the above link!

Here's the cute little blurb:

Undoing traditional psychiatric narratives in this innovative and bold first collection. Drawing from queer, trans, disabled, and Mad poetic traditions, Differential Diagnosis introduces a deeply entangled transMad approach, investigating ways of knowing, loving, and living not legible to the normative eye. This collection challenges the architecture of institutional psychiatry and its popular “wellness” analogues, offering instead a counternarrative of forced institutionalization, disorderly embodiment, and transMad self-determination. At once jarring and joyful, Differential Diagnosis interrogates psychiatric power and locates capacities for disabled and/or transMad resistance in the oblique, the speculative, and the “nonsensical.” Cavar’s inventive full-length debut defamiliarizes cis, sane, abled existence through linguistic play and speculative imagery, offering Madness not only as poetic content, but also as craft technique and, ultimately, as a new way of being in the normative world.

And some very generous praise:

“TransMad automythology, diagnostic of refusal, animal / bodymind of hunger & grief & play—Differential Diagnosis asks why peer precisely at what can’t be measured. Whether internal organ or fridge door, Cavar is gracious, opens and langues what’s inside: a whole of holes, the riddled disease, all that can be / is, and lives.”—Crystal Odelle, author of Trans Studies “Reveling in poetry’s tendency toward ‘bloat’ and excess and not-yet-normalized syntax, this propulsive debut collection showcases and delights in the poet’s mad wit. Through Cavar’s serious humor and playful theorizing and clever attempts to ‘outwit’ Gender, psychopower, and ‘commonsense,’ Differential Diagnosis offers all of us who sense that we were “born in the wrong episteme” strategies for making and making ‘where the nameless live.’” —Cameron Awkward-Rich, author of An Optimism