When the papal Master of Ceremonies, Monsignor Guido Marini, started to place the mozzetta on Francis, legend has it that he responded: “You put it on! The carnival is over.”

But apparently not quite.

The vestments made in Rome for the Papal visit to Ireland could hardly be distinguished from carnival attire. Lacking any overt Christian symbolism, they mock the great tradition of Christian vesture.  Consider, by contrast, the glorious baroque vestments in the treasury at Siena, or better still, the Opus Anglicanum in the Museo del Duomo in Pienza.

The Dublin vestments were clearly picked up as a job lot of ‘remainders’ on the Via dei Cestari.

Let the Carnival commence!