Black on white: the details of Yolanda Díaz’s visit to the Pope

After the schism created in her own Government on account of her private meeting with Pope Francis, Yolanda Díaz has lacked the chulapon point of Madrid to wrap a shawl around her shoulders and inflate herself with it.

Thus, in the Galdosian way, with that “characteristic bow of arms and lift of shoulders with which the Madrilenian women of the town entertain themselves inside the shawl.”

Instead, she has chosen a fitted black suit and a white blouse with a large bow that mocks, in part, the protocol of the Vatican, which demands to wear rigorous black or sober tones.

The cloudy morning at the Vatican contrasted with the pale pink and red makeup on the second vice president’s lips and the wind ruffled her updo.

She walked exultantly through the city that boasts the largest number of heliports and television networks per capita in the world, greeting tourists and delighting in the joys of power.

It is the first time that the pontiff has received a leader from United We Can, but not the first time in the coalition government. Pedro Sánchez held a 35-minute hearing on October 24, 2020, attended by his wife, Begoña Gómez.

In black and three-quarter sleeves, with a closed neckline and length below the knees, the president’s wife drew attention for not covering her head with the traditional mantilla.

Although recommended, it is not mandatory. She preferred to show off her new hair with volume and soft waves. Nor did the look of Carmen Calvo go unnoticed, who on October 5, 2019 exchanged a “cordial” greeting with Pope Francis and with the Vatican Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin, oblivious to any advice of prudence, chose a low-cut lingerie top heavily criticized.

Any criterion is based on common sense and good taste in the case of an act like this. That’s where the veto of the miniskirt, shorts or bare shoulders comes in. The excessively high heel is not considered very successful either. For his part, the man must wear a dark suit (black, navy blue or Oxford gray) and a tie in sober tones.

The white color, which Díaz lets show through the jacket, is a privilege reserved for Catholic queens or consorts of Catholic monarchs. Only they can break the demand of the black.

It is known as the “privilège du blanc” used by Queen Letizia in 2014, when she appeared before the Pope with a Felipe Varela outfit embroidered in thread and made up of a white dress and jacket. She did not cover her head with a mantilla, as Charlene of Monaco did in 2016, who wore an ivory-colored coat and a delicate white veil.

The first queen to avail herself of this distinction was Victoria Eugenia, in 1923, during a private audience with Pope Pius XI. Queen Sofía has also dressed in strict white, in addition to the traditional mantilla with a comb, to be received by five Popes.

In general, the guests scrupulously respect the dress code required for visiting the Vatican. She especially highlighted the sobriety of Melania Trump, then the first American lady. This was not the case for Cherie Blair, wife of former British Prime Minister Anthony Blair. Catholic and very fervent, but not queen, in 2006 she dressed in white in her greeting to Pope Benedict XVI.

Apart from the clothing, the gestural language in this type of audience becomes a reason for wakefulness, especially taking into account the character of Pope Francis, so reluctant to excess pomp and to express with his face if the guest is to his liking.

Just a few weeks ago his warm farewell meeting with Angela Merkel was surprising. Both were photographed smiling and with their hands clasped. It was, without a doubt, an exception, because in the way of addressing the pontiff, the protocol is equally rigorous.

Before the pandemic, those leaders who do not profess the Catholic religion could limit themselves to shaking hands, but the formal and protocol is the greeting with a discreet genuflection, inclining the face so that it is at the level of the hand.

The gesture comes from the tradition of kissing the Fisherman’s Ring, an unwritten rule that Pope Francis, who is used to breaking formalities, decided not to follow.

Instead of this badge, he wears his ring as Bishop of Buenos Aires. He is never greeted with a kiss on the cheek and the way to address him, officially, is as “His Holiness” or “Holy Father.”

Until the last minute, there has been a lot of secrecy surrounding this trip. The Pope, as Díaz has once said, is one of its charismatic leaders and the meeting could help him to reinforce those threads with which he weaves his new political project.

The date was advanced so as not to coincide with the visit ad limina of the Spanish bishops, scheduled for Monday, December 13.

It is unknown what her ejaculations are like, if she has them, but if she ever let his imagination run wild, fantasy would not take her anywhere near this extraordinary room in which she makes it clear that the little corner to the left has long been it was small.

As a souvenir, politics has given her a stole made of recycled plastic and a special edition of the poetry book ‘Follas novas’, by the Galician Rosalía de Castro.

In the next few hours it will be known if she entrusted her faith to the Pope, as the historical communist Dolores Ibárruri did at the last minute with the Jesuit father Llanos, the same one who, according to Francisco Umbral, shared the old anise Machaquito with Tierno Galván in the taverns.