by: Ellen C. Caldwell
for JSTOR Daily
A recent documentary based on Pope Francis’ 2015 book My Idea of Art highlights the ways in which Pope Francis hopes to return to the glory days of Renaissance Italy in using contemporary art as an evangelical tool. Elected as the 266th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church in 2013, Pope Francis has redefined the papacy in unique ways.
Just months after Pope Francis’ inauguration, Roland Flamini considered Pope Francis’s approach to his position and to the changing image of the Catholic Church. Flamini begins by pointing out some of the many small ways that Pope Francis immediately broke with tradition, including his opting not to wear the red shoes (instead keeping his “sturdy, well-worn black cap toes”), rejecting the red cape or mozetta, and choosing to wear his iron cross instead of upgrading to the gold one offered to him. Flamini explains, “the pope’s wardrobe choices were just the beginning of a succession of sometimes startling changes he has made to the time-honored patterns of papal behavior.” Other broken traditions include his decision to stay at the Domus Santae Marthae guest house, rather than the larger and more regal papal apartment in the Apostolic Palace…