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Q&A

Why is the Pope’s Cassock White While the Clothes of Other Clergymen are Usually Black?

Question:

Why is it that the pope’s cassock is white while the clothes of other clergymen are usually black?

Answer:

The custom of popes wearing white cassocks dates to Pope St. Pius V, a Dominican who chose to continue wearing the Dominican white habit as pope. Successive popes continued the custom, and it is now the traditional color of the pope’s clothing.

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