Dressing The Church: One Of Rome's Last Clergyman Tailors

Mancinelli, originally from the Marche region in central Italy, has worked under seven popes. (Credit: AFP)

With a tape measure around his neck and thimble on his finger, Raniero Mancinelli slides a needle into a black cassock with red piping destined for a Catholic cardinal.

"It takes two or three days to make an outfit: taking the measurements, cutting it out, and putting it all together," according to the 86-year-old Italian, one of the last ecclesiastical tailors in Rome.