Papal Audiences
In the past strict dress codes had to be followed by those granted a papal audience. Men were required to wear a morning coat or white tie and tails, while women when meeting popes were required to wear full length black dresses and mantillas (black veils) unless they were Catholic queens, in which case they could wear white. Formal dress is now normally reserved for diplomatic audiences. In the 1990s, a Roman Catholic priest in Ireland provoked a controversy by claiming that then-President of Ireland Mary Robinson had breached protocol by wearing jewellery and by not wearing black nor a mantilla, for an audience with Pope John Paul II. The Vatican subsequently pointed out that the traditional form of dress worn for papal audiences was no longer obligatory.
Modern popes grant large audiences to crowds in St. Peter's Square or the Paul VI Audience Hall.
Read more about this topic: Audience (meeting)
Famous quotes containing the word audiences:
“Both cultures encourage innovation and experimentation, but are likely to reject the innovator if his innovation is not accepted by audiences. High culture experiments that are rejected by audiences in the creator’s lifetime may, however, become classics in another era, whereas popular culture experiments are forgotten if not immediately successful. Even so, in both cultures innovation is rare, although in high culture it is celebrated and in popular culture it is taken for granted.”
—Herbert J. Gans (b. 1927)