Why doesnt pope francis wear red shoes

Pope Francis greeted by Obama family after landing

Pope Francis arrived in the U.S. and was greeted by cheering crowds and the Obama family.

Pope Francis arrived Tuesday for his first-ever visit to the United States and right away one thing was clear: This is not the Prada Pope.

He came down the steps of his Alitalia jet at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington and you could see he was wearing plain black shoes, of the kind a ordinary parish priest might wear, beneath his all-white papal cassock.

In fact, he was wearing the same kind of shoes during his visit to Cuba that preceded his arrival in the USA.

Why does it matter? Because Francis' shoes have become one of the small symbols of his style, so different from that of his predecessor, Pope Benedict XVI, known in the Italian media as the "Prada Pope" who wore bright red leather loafers custom made for him by his personal cobbler.

On his plane (dubbed Shepherd One) headed to the U.S., the pope spoke to journalists on board, telling a story that a cardinal told him of a woman — "a good Catholic lady … a little bit rigid, but a good Catholic"— who feared he might be an "anti-pope," because he doesn't wear the traditional papal red shoes.

Ever since he was elected in 2013, Italian media coverage of the first Argentine pope has focused on how he has made plain living and frugality his hallmark: He eschews the elaborate papal apartments in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican, choosing to live in not-palatial rooms at the Vatican guesthouse instead. He sometimes gets around by bus or a compact car instead of the papal limousine.

(After arrival at Andrews, he was whisked into Washington in a tiny Fiat surrounded by hulking American security vehicles.)

And three weeks ago, when he needed new eyeglasses, he slipped out of the Vatican and popped into an optician's shop in Rome, stunning tourists and passersby who crowded round, cheered and clamored for selfies once they realized he was there. It was another lesson from Francis in papal economics.

"I don't want a whole new set of frames, just new lenses," the pontiff told Alessandro Spiezia, proprietor of the eyewear shop in Via del Babuino in the heart of the pricey Spanish Steps section of the Eternal City.

This is not something the German-born Benedict would do, even now, as the first pope to resign the papacy in 600 years.

A traditionalist in matters of theology, Benedict also was a traditionalist in papal sartorial matters, preferring the red velvet and ermine-trimmed vestments of the past, and the traditional red papal outdoor shoes. In fairness, so did most of his predecessors, judging from papal portraits stretching back hundreds of years.

Not Francis, although he has adopted what has become the standard papal uniform of white cassock with white cape and white skull cap. After losing his skull cape in the wind in Cuba, he took it off as he came down the steps at Andrews in windy and drizzly conditions.

With his black shoes, Francis also wears black pants beneath the cassock, whereas Benedict wore white. But, so far, no red shoes, red hat or red cape for Francis.

In Cuba, his black shoes were spotted every time he sat down.