Conclave is a stitch-up for leading tailor

CARDINALS start choosing a new Pope next week, but the successor to John Paul will be all sewn up well before the secret conclave opens.

In a cobblestoned street behind Rome’s Pantheon, tailor Filippo Gammarelli is adding the final stitches to an item that Monday’s meeting will not start without - the white vestments which the new Pope will wear when he first appears to the world.

Because Mr Gammarelli has no clue who that pope will be, he is making three versions of the silk and wool outfit, in small, medium and large, to clothe the most lean or corpulent cardinal.