I was intrigued to note the Pope’s red shoes when he landed in Australia. Apart from being a fantastic colour for anyone’s shoes, I wondered why I had never noticed such fine footwear on the previous Pope. Were my skills in observation on the wane? It was Anne and her husband Matthew (via Google) to the rescue. It seems it was a tradition in the middle ages for nobleman to wear red shoes. This was continued with the office of the Pope, and red shoes originally also had a special buckle and a cross as well. Well it seems that the tradition was discarded by the previous Pope (who favoured plain old brown shoes), but reinstated by the current Pontiff. They’re made of finest Moroccan leather apparently, but without the buckle and cross. I wonder if he has just one pair or a multitude for various occasions. Are they just for “good” or everyday use as well?
Will replicas be on sale in the World Youth Day Shop along with all the other religious paraphernalia? Should there even be a World youth day shop? I’m not sure what I think about all this…although being particularly unreligious I don’t think I’ll lie awake nights worrying about the commercialisation of religion in contemporary culture.

Whatever – they’re very noice shoes.