Jun 14
He's Gay and He Designs Garments for the Pope. Here's What He Has to Say
Kilian Melloy READ TIME: 2 MIN.
He's a gay designer of clothes who has his own perfume business. He also makes the pope's ecclesiastical garments.
"The church should be welcoming, it should not shy away from anything and be open to all aspect of our society," out designer Filippo Sorcinelli said in an interview, according to UK newspaper the Daily Mail.
Going on to cite great artists like the inventor, painter, and sculptor Leonardo Da Vinci, as well as the painter Caravaggio and the painter and sculptor Michelangelo - all of whom have been speculated to have been LGBTQ+ - Sorcinelli added "that the creation of beauty overcomes all," the Mail noted. "The church should face everything without fear because that is also part of the Christian message."
The Mail described how the muscular, tattooed designer has designed and created over four dozen garments for Pope Francis (as well as nearly two dozen for Francis' late predecessor), and detailed that Sorcinelli spends "up 1,000 hours working on some individuals' robes" that "range from €1,000 to €7,000" in price.
"He does not limit himself to just the one business venture," the Mail noted, "with another shop which sells fragrances designed by him, one of which is called Cruising Area."
The interview the Mail cited was posted to YouTube last November, well before the pair of recent occasions on which the pontiff hurled an anti-gay expletive.
As previously reported, Francis was in a closed-door meeting with bishops last month when he let fly with the Italian slur "frociaggine," which translates to "faggotry" in English. The pope's use of the slur came as he was declaring that there was "too much" of it in some of the seminaries.
Francis quickly issued an apology for the slur, but recent reports say he used the term once again in similar discussions. The Mail detailed that Francis told preists in Rome that "there is an air of faggotness in the Vatican" during a June 11 meeting.
Sorcinelli's garments are not the only things of beauty about him; check out some of his IG posts.
Kilian Melloy serves as EDGE Media Network's Associate Arts Editor and Staff Contributor. His professional memberships include the National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, The Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics Association, and the Boston Theater Critics Association's Elliot Norton Awards Committee.
