Pope Leo’s gay fashion designer shares the secrets to keeping the Pontiff looking snatched
Filippo Sorcinelli has been creating sacred vestments for the last three popes.
Mark
It’s been a year since Pope Leo assumed his role as the head of the Catholic Church and he’s already made quite the impression for his style sensibilities.
Back in December, Vogue named the first American pope one of the 55 best dressed people of 2025. While we are stopping short of saying the papacy wears Prada, Pope Leo’s sartorial excellence has been crafted by his gay fashion designer.
Filippo Sorcinelli has been creating sacred vestments for cardinals, bishops and the pope for more than 20 years. The handsome bearded daddy previously designed looks for Leo’s predecessors Pope Francis and Pope Benedict.
The pope is in good and very, very strong hands.
How about we take this to the next level?
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Pope Leo’s style
With Pope Leo being his third pontiff, Sorcinelli disclosed it’s crucial the holy garments express understated power that isn’t too flashy
“Nothing seems oriented toward spectacle: each visual choice contributes to building a language of reliability, balance and quiet authority,” the 50-year-old designer told the Daily Mail.
Pope Leo has expressed his own personal stye within the confines of papal protocol having been photographed wearing Nike sneaker under one of his robes and another time in a Chicago White Sox cap while at a Vatican event.
“In Leo XIV, one senses a style born of a choice for measure, a composed bearing that speaks first of all of an ordered interiority and of authority,” Sorcinelli said.
That and he isn’t letting Vatican City stop him rooting for his home team!
Robes for the Catholic A-list are embroidered by hand and can take Sorcinelli up to 1000 hours to finish. And they are not cheap. The ornate gowns can run upwards of $7500.
While the casual observer may think all popes dress the same, Sorcinelli laid out how each of the Holy See’s had their own distinct styles.
“Each pontiff, like every priest, is a universe of symbols. His body becomes a visible word that asks to be clothed in forms and colors capable of reflecting the mission he embodies,” he said.
The papacy wears Prada
Pope Benedict was conservative and kept it traditional (other than his penchant for red leather shoes), while more progressive Pope Francis was more of a minimalist.
“Benedict XVI expressed a culture of roots, a refinement grounded in memory and tradition,” he added. “Francis chose the strength of a surprising simplicity, almost a Gospel provocation.”
Interestingly, Sorcinelli finds that Pope Leo’s taste is more centrist, much like his governing style, bringing together both tradition and innovation.
“Leo XIV manifests a desire to bring everything back to the centrality of Christ, making that axis the sign of a single path uniting past and future,” he shared with the outlet.
It’s giving gay Catholic
In addition to designing religious eleganza, Sorcinelli has a side hustle running a perfume shop that is not exactly intended for men of the cloth. He makes a slew of luxurious scents and beauty products, some with names like Slightly Bitch, Popper Pop, Cruising Area, and Cyber Sex.
Lawd have mercy!
While living loud and proud, Sorcinelli also addressed if he had any trepidation being an openly gay man working with the head of an institution that isn’t the most accepting of the LGBTQ+ community.
“I have never seen faith and sexuality as a battle, but as a creative tension that fuels my work,” he told the Daily Mail. “What does it mean to be openly gay? Perhaps it means embracing one’s story without fear and transforming it into creative language.”
The out designer further indicated he’s never felt any resistance in all his years working for the highest levels of the Catholic Church.
“My experience of the Church has always been one of welcome,” he continued. “No one has ever stopped me at the threshold of a church.”
A gay tatted muscle daddy is doing the Lord’s work. And for that we pray!
Related
What gay slur? Pope Francis has all his gowns made by this queer, tatted up bearded daddy
Meet Filippo Sorcinelli, the gay fashion designer who has been making gowns for the pope for 20 years.
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