I know, I know! It's been a few weeks now, and I you probably think I should have gotten around to mentioning this heraldic news item sooner than this.
But frankly, there has been some controversy about this coat of arms since it first popped up in the news, and it's been my observation over the years that if you wait just a little while before commenting about something that may be a little controversial, things will settle down a bit and you can get more accurate information.
Well, that, and the fact that I'm no fan of the 24-hour news cycle generally, for pretty much the same reason.
Anyway, for the one or two of you who may not have heard yet, the Roman Catholic Church has a new Pope, elected just a few weeks after the passing of Pope Francis. The new American-born Pope has taken the name Leo XIV, and his coat of arms, with the Papal additaments, has hit the heraldic news world.
And almost immediately, there were complaints about it both in news items generally as well as some of the heraldry blogs, newsgroups, and Facebook groups, with headlines like "Heraldry buffs demand answers on "confusing" background colour" (https://www.creativebloq.com/design/logos-icons/the-design-of-pope-leo-xivs-coat-of-arms-is-proving-to-be-surprisingly-controversial), based primarily on the fact that the tincture in the lower part of the shield was said to be of a "light background" that in appearance is neither Argent nor Or, but rather a kind of cream color. (See also https://mymodernmet.com/pope-leo-xiv-portrait-signature-coat-of-arms/)
Other stories with similar, though sometimes slightly different, explanations of the various elements of the arms can be found at https://www.msn.com/en-ie/lifestyle/lifestylegeneral/pope-leo-xiv-s-new-coat-of-arms-a-symbol-of-unity-and-faith/ar-AA1EMh8k , https://www.msn.com/en-ca/news/world/pope-leo-xivs-new-coat-of-arms-a-blend-of-faith-and-tradition/ar-AA1EMGXL, and https://www.inkl.com/news/what-pope-leo-xiv-s-coat-of-arms-and-motto-reveal-about-his-dedication-to-the-ideals-of-st-augustine-an-art-historian-explains, all appeared within days.
Finally, though, the Vatican issued an "official" portrait of Pope Leo XIV along with his signature and depiction of his coat of arms with the Papal additaments. See if you can spot the difference in the official version from the earlier ones.
Finally, though, the Vatican issued an "official" portrait of Pope Leo XIV along with his signature and depiction of his coat of arms with the Papal additaments. See if you can spot the difference in the official version from the earlier ones.
Yeah, I know it may be a little hard to see here. Let me help. Here's an enlarged version of the arms taken from the image above.
The lower half of the shield is no longer "light" or "cream" or whatever you want to call the "neither argent nor or" of the earlier depictions. Here, in the official version, it is clearly the same argent as appears in the fleur-de-lis, one of the two keys of St. Peter behind the shield, and the white portions of the Papal tiara.
So by waiting just a few days, the "controversy" over the new Pope's arms has been settled, all without any help, or complaint, from me.
Lesson learned? I hope so.
People? It's no longer a "'confusing' background colour"; it's argent.*
So the confusion continues.
And just when I thought it had been locked down.
And then again ... just today (Tuesday, May 27) I ran across yet another entry in the "Is it white or is it cream?" debate, in the form of this photograph:
This is the official banner with the Pope's coat of arms that hangs outside the window of the Apostolic Palace. Note that it does have the color of the lower half of the shield as argent (white).
So I'm going to try to put a peg in this again, and rule definitively that the shield is Per bend sinister azure and argent!
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