Tourists Hot Over Vatican Dress Code

CBSNews.com ^ | July 16, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

With temperatures soaring, tempers are flaring as the Vatican's dress police turn back tourists in shorts and bare shoulders trying to get into St. Peter's Basilica.

Vendors are doing a brisk business selling paper pants and paper shirts -- turning St. Peter's Square into an open-air changing room.

“I am born naked and the church wants me to be wearing pants,” Danish tourist Kenneth Bergen, 53, proclaimed to a throng of would-be visitors who had been turned back. Bergen had just bought a pair of paper pants.

Enforcement of the dress turns into a battle each summer, but the verbal skirmishes have been heightened this July because Rome has been in the grips of a relentless heat wave.

For weeks, temperatures have reached into the 90 degrees Fahrenheit each day and the thousands of tourists trudging through the streets seem dressed more for a day at the beach -- shorts, miniskirts, tank tops for both men and women. The city's policemen have been out in force to assure tourists don't cool off their feet in the Trevi Fountain and other landmarks.

At the Vatican, authorities have erected signs showing that no one can enter the basilica with bare legs and bare shoulders. Guards --neatly dressed in shirts and ties -- patrol the entrances.

Showing true entrepreneurial spirit, vendors have popped up at various points around the vast square, keeping one step ahead of the police.

A student identifying himself as Marko from Yugoslavia, visiting the Vatican with his grandmother, plunked down a euro for paper pants, but promptly ripped them as he tried to pull them up above his shorts. A vendor reluctantly reached into his black plastic bag for another pair.

“The information we got was that the dress code only applied when the pope was here,” said Becky Haskin, 44, visiting from Fort Worth, Texas, with three friends.

Blocked on their first attempt, they bought a pair of paper pants and two shawls. “It was worth it,” she said.

Not only the Vatican but the diocese of Rome and its hundreds of churches require what authorities consider appropriate dress. But unlike the Vatican, most of the churches cannot afford guards and -- in the heat of this summer -- they have become cool refuges for the barely clad.

Some tourists do come prepared, pulling out pants and shirts from their backpacks and changing in St. Peter's Square, often prompting whistles and cat calls from onlookers.

[finnman69]

This is nothing new. They did this when I lived in Rome in 1991. I encounteded the same with Hindi temples in India and buddhist temples in Thailand and Laos.

Only totally uncouth and uneductaed morons bitch and moan about showing the bare minimum of respect inside churches, cathedrals or any other types of religious structures.

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[wideawake]

My wife and I went a few summers ago. Since my wife is a modest person and since I don't dress like a 5 year old boy, we had no problem.

Of course we had a really uncool motive for going to St. Peter's anyway - we came for Mass.

[xm177e2]

I am born naked and the church wants me to be wearing pants

I was born naked, ignorant and completely unable to defend or care for myself. Which, come to think of it, is exactly how "progressives" want me to be as an adult...

[jjm2111]

People get a little too hung up on clothes. I was in Mass in St. Patricks cathedral on Saturday (I was working on a Saturday) and two people dressed all in Goth stuff with lots of piercings came in, genuflected, and knelt to pray.Wouldn't have guessed it from the looks of them.

Also, I girl I met said that she was going for a ride on her motorcycle one sunday and went to church that morning all in full leathers. They asked her to leave.

I'm pretty sure God doesn't care what we are wearing.

[OpusatFR]

Do they also carp about a dress code when dining at an expensive restaurant?

I suppose the Dane who believed being born nude gave him a right to go nude was served at an eatery in Rome?

[Wild Irish Rogue]

" Only totally uncouth and uneductaed morons bitch and moan about showing the bare minimum of respect inside churches, cathedrals or any other types of religious structures."

They think the couture for mowing the lawn is appropriate for every place-airplanes,houses of worship,supermarkets,McDonalds,etc.A wife beater t shirt, exposing their hairy backs and tats,the ensemble completed with flip flops.And for some of these couples, the outfit could be unisex.

[Weimdog]

Agreed.

Every single guide book tells you that you must wear appropriate dress to places of worship.

BTW, the Italians should enforce their indecency laws and ticket these dumbasses changing in St. Peters Square.

[Paul Atreides]

I would be willing to bet that none of the complainers would gripe about the dress code in a Muslim country. I would also be willing to be that the press wouldn't give them the time of day if they griped.

[Salman]

“I am born naked and the church wants me to be wearing pants,” Danish tourist Kenneth Bergen, 53, proclaimed to a throng of would-be visitors who had been turned back. Bergen had just bought a pair of paper pants.

A fifty-three year old guy in a thong. No pictures please!

[Cicero]

They should try going into a mosque in the wrong sort of clothes. Probably get their hands cut off, if not their heads.

[Paul Atreides]

Paper pants?!

[wideawake]

I'm pretty sure God doesn't care what we are wearing.

Sure. Showing God contempt and disrespect is something He loves.

People who would be mortified to show up at a party or a function dressed like a panhandler have no problem showing up in church looking like a slob.

I'm sure God doesn't care if we eat in church either. Or take a nap. God obviously deserves nothing but the worst we have to offer Him.

[Paul Atreides]

For weeks, temperatures have reached into the 90 degrees Fahrenheit each day and the thousands of tourists trudging through the streets seem dressed more for a day at the beach -- shorts, miniskirts, tank tops for both men and women. The city's policemen have been out in force to assure tourists don't cool off their feet in the Trevi Fountain and other landmarks.

A lot of people in a lot hotter climates manage to wear less revealing clothing in their ordinary day-to-day lives. Surely, those people can manage it long enough to take a tour.

[jjm2111]

"Sure. Showing God contempt and disrespect is something He loves."

If you really think so.

I'm sure God doesn't care if we eat in church either. Or take a nap. God obviously deserves nothing but the worst we have to offer Him.

I'm guessing you're being sarcastic, but what's your point? I didn't say one should eat or nap in church. I certainly agree there are limits to what one can wear, but how does wearing shorts in church make one contemptous of God?

[Servant of the Nine]

“The information we got was that the dress code only applied when the pope was here,” said Becky Haskin, 44, visiting from Fort Worth, Texas, with three friends.

What difference would that make?
Decent people do not enter others Holy Places without being respectful, whether it is their faith or not.

At least they are not all Aerican these days, the trailer trash of the entire world is on tour.

So9

[stop_fascism]

Gosh, dressing respectfully. Next you'll want people to stop talking and turn off their cell phones.

[wideawake]

How does wearing shorts in church make one contemptous of God?

If we were invited to a dinner at the house of a prominent person, we would make sure to wear a jacket and tie in order to make a good impression. We'd want to look our best, especially if we had manners.

Yet when we're invited to God's house for the Eucharist, some people show up like they're going to the beach.

I'm reminded of Mary Magdalene who, when she was in Christ's presence, took the most valuable thing she owned, expensive perfume, and poured it over His feet.

[wideawake]

But what if my team scores during the Consecration? How will I find out in time?