Spatwatch

Vatican Dress Code Riles Tourists

Heather Horn 517 Views Jul 29, 2010

Visitors to the Vatican City State are striking back at new modesty requirements, providing juicy little quotes to The Telegraph accusing the Church of hypocrisy. Modesty requirements are nothing new for St. Peter's Basilica, but The Telegraph reports that the Pope's Swiss Guards recently started extending the rules to the entire area. Now even locals using the Vatican's "pharmacy, supermarket and post office" are apparently being "[drawn] aside" by the guards, who are taking exception to "men in shorts and women with uncovered shoulders and short skirts."

That leads to the biting little comment from "a woman in her seventies" named Maria:

Given all the scandals the Church has been involved in, what possible right can it have to be preaching about the morality of sleeveless dresses?

Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at hhorn at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.
Heather Horn

Sources

Vatican Accused of Hypocrisy over Dress Code, Nick Squires, The Telegraph

Presented By

Topics: Religion

Related Articles				More by Heather Horn
Noah and the Ark Gets a $150 Million Theme Park	Guess the Quote: Bin Laden or Newt Gingrich?	What Does the Bible Have Against Dogs?		Vanessa Grigoriadis: What I Read	What the World Makes of Rick Perry