Papal cross Papal cross The papal cross is a Christian cross, which serves as an emblem for the office of the Pope in ecclesiastical heraldry. It is depicted as a staff with three horizontal bars near the top, in diminishing order of length as the top is approached. The cross is thus analogous to the two-barred archiepiscopal cross used in heraldry to indicate an archbishop, and seems to have been used precisely to indicate an ecclesiastical rank still higher than that of archbishop. In the past, this design of the cross was often used in ecclesiastical heraldry as a distinctive mark of
Papal regalia and insignia the traditional red Papal shoes, but Pope Francis has reverted to black shoes. The pope's ordinary dress (also called house dress), which is worn for daily use outside of liturgical functions, consists of a white cassock with attached pellegrina and girded with a fringed white fascia (often with the papal coat of arms embroidered on it), a pectoral cross suspended from a gold cord, red papal shoes, and a white zucchetto. On more formal occasions, the pope may wear a red cape similar to the ferraiuolo except for its gold decoration. Alternatively, he may wear a red cape with a