Pope Leo XIV was this year elected the 267th Roman pontiff, and thus has drawn close attention from even the most secular of sources. Last week, Vogue saw fit to include the pope among its list of the 55 best-dressed people of 2025, honoring as his “best outfit for 2025” the “red satin mozzetta cape and wine-red, gold-embroidered stole paired with a cross pendant on a gold silk cord” that the new pope wore for his first appearance as pope on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica. The newly elected Pope Leo appears on the central loggia of St. Peter’s Basilica following his election as the 267th Roman pontiff (NBC News/YouTube)The pope was, of course, merely wearing the exact outfit that had been prescribed for whichever man was elected pope. It had been left for him, prepared and hanging in the Room of Tears, and had been photographed earlier that week by the news media. But his decision to don the traditionally worn mozzetta and stole contrasted with Pope Francis’ radical decision to eschew them, and so drew the impression that he was not one for making dramatic stands and was subsuming himself to the office of the successor St. Peter with humility and respect for the Church’s tradition. The papal vestments prepared for Pope Leo in the Room of Tears (EWTN/YouTube) In selecting Pope Leo as a fashion icon, Vogue cited his decision to “[b]reak[] with the humble tastes of his predecessor, Pope Francis.” Perhaps, then, even the most secular of people appreciate the beauty of Catholic liturgical vestments, and see in the papal vestments worn by the Holy Father a testament to a beauty beyond this world. Pope Leo at his Dec. 10, 2025 general audience (Catholic News Service/YouTube) Pope Leo has indeed taken a more traditional course than the late 266th pontiff, as he has chosen to wear a white cassock made of Italian wool (contrasting to the cotton blend favored by Pope Francis), a white silk sash (only very rarely worn by Pope Francis), white pants (as opposed to Pope Francis’ black), a variety of beautiful papal stoles in shades of burgundy, white, and gold depicting religious imagery (Pope Francis opted for much simpler stoles), and several ornate pectoral crosses (Pope Francis only wore the simple silver cross he wore as archbishop of Buenos Aires). In fact, one of the pope’s tailors has reported that Pope Leo “is refined, with a good eye for fit and elegance. He appreciates a well-tailored cassock.” The pope’s beautifully crafted, presumably hand-embroidered stole thus reads as an act of veneration toward Mary. But Pope Leo’s decision to wear more traditional papal vestments has never felt like it comes from a place of egotism. And it has never even felt — as it sometimes seemed with Pope Benedict XIV — that tradition was the point, as when Benedict XIV wore red papal shoes or a saturno. It has seemed instead that Pope Leo’s clothing choices emerge from religious devotion and his respect for his role as the “visible source and foundation of the unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful,” as is set forward in Lumen gentium. Pope Leo XIV and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew take part in an ecumenical prayer service near the ancient Basilica of St. Neophytos (EWTN News/YouTube) For instance, when the Holy Father attended an ecumenical prayer service in Iznik, Turkey, last month alongside Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the Greek Orthodox patriarchs of Antioch, Alexandria, and Jerusalem or their representatives, and representatives of various Protestant traditions, he wore a scarlet red silk mozzetta and a red stole with ornate gold designs. As the pontiff was seeking to move toward reestablishment of “full visible communion” with the Orthodox Church, his vesture signaled to the Orthodox leaders, some of whom were themselves wearing elaborate liturgical garments, that the Catholic Church, too, is deeply and visibly rooted in the richness of Christian tradition (and that they should, then, reunify with Rome). Pope Leo said that the Nicene Creed he and the other religious leaders recited is “of fundamental importance in the journey that Christians are making toward full communion.” Pope Leo leads the Act of Veneration to the Immaculate (EWTN News/YouTube) And last week, Pope Leo wore a particularly beautiful traditional papal stole when paying homage to the Blessed Virgin Mary at the Column of the Immaculate Conception at the Piazza di Spagna, where he blessed flowers in honor of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. For the blessing, the pope placed over his red mozzetta an ornate white stole with gold embroidery displaying his own papal coat of arms. On the r/CatholicClericalDress Reddit thread, users noted that the combination of a red mozzetta and white stole is unusual and has only emerged in recent decades as a tribute to the Blessed Mother worn on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception. The pope’s beautifully crafted, presumably hand-embroidered stole thus reads as an act of veneration toward Mary, whom he said at the Sunday Angelus earlier that week had been granted “the extraordinary grace of a completely pure heart.” Pope Leo XIV leads Eucharistic Benediction (EWTN/YouTube) The pope’s ornate pectoral crosses likewise show his religious devotion. The gold pectoral cross he wore for his first appearance as pope on the central loggia holds the relics of five saints from the Augustinian tradition, St. Augustine, St. Monica, St. Thomas of Villanova, Blessed Anselmo Polanco, and Venerable Giuseppe Bartolomeo Menochio, and was a gift to him when he was created cardinal in 2023. After Pope Francis spent 12 years as pontiff wearing humbler garb, many thought it would perhaps be impossible in the modern era for any pope to wear more traditional liturgical dress, as it would come across as proud and egotistical following the standard Pope Francis set for the virtue of humility. Pope Leo’s more traditional wear, however, has never come across as being in disagreement with Pope Francis’s perspective or as having anything against him. It has simply come across as a different means of humility, one in which he accepts the symbols of his office not for personal adornment but rather to signify his role. Papal red, after all, is a color representing martyrdom, showing that he has given his life for Christ in his role as the successor of St. Peter and that he is ready and willing to die for Christ. The facts that Pope Leo has developed a reputation for having the personality of a “Midwestern uncle” and that he has a long history of serving the poor in Peru — with stories of him driving his own truck full of aid to villagers, helping the village of Íllimo after a flood by going out into the floodwaters himself, and aiding poor women caught up in prostitution — show even further that the intention of his traditional liturgical dress is not to bring attention to himself. Had another man been elected pope, someone without Pope Leo’s strong respect for Pope Francis or his long record of humble service to the poor, reviving the traditional dress of the Roman pontiffs might have risked appearing like a rejection of his predecessor or an act of vanity. But Pope Leo has coolly and confidently reintroduced more ornate garments, without inviting even a hit of suspicion. 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