The photos of Michelle Obama, clad in black and veiled for a visit with Pope Benedict XVI on Friday, have triggered quite a bit of discussion, at least in my little world, about why women dress this way in the papal presence.I’ve poked around and am not coming up with an entirely satisfactory explanation, other than that the head covering is a sign of respect and a nod to tradition; before the Second Vatican Council, all women attending Mass were expected to cover their heads.
Now the church requests that women attending papal audiences cover their shoulders and knees, and for private audiences protocol suggests that women wear black and a mantilla.
The protocol is not universally honored - Raisa Gorbachev once caused a bit of a stir by greeting the pope dressed in red - but the archives show many examples of prominent women who have followed the practice, including a group of global first ladies who were veiled when they stopped by the Vatican while in Italy for the Group of 8 gathering last week, as well as Queen Elizabeth II and Laura Bush, Hillary Clinton, and Nancy Reagan.
Obama’s veil (like the dress, designed by Moschino, according to The Huffington Post) has drawn a variety of reactions.
The Rev. Victoria Weinstein, a Unitarian Universalist minister in Norwell who writes the popular Beauty Tips for Ministers blog, hates the dress, but says of the veil, “What’s the fuss? . . . It’s called respect for tradition and I’ve got no problem with it.’’
And, of course, women often don traditional garb to honor other religious traditions - just last month there were pictures of Hillary Clinton, now secretary of state, wearing a headscarf while visiting a mosque in Cairo with President Obama.
But on my blog, the comments, even from Catholics, are largely anti-veil. Gaudete, a frequent commenter who identifies himself as “a very conservative, traditional Catholic,’’ writes, “This women in veils mini-tradition is one we could and should let go of . . . It’s the difference between essential Tradition, with a capital T, the non-negotiable teachings of the Church derived from Christ, and these culturally variable traditions with a small t. On the surface, it does look like demeaning women, contradicting Church teaching on the equal dignity of women. Worse, it just looks too much like the ultra Muslim burka.’’
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