&w=3840&q=100)
Holy Soles: How Pope Francis' ordinary shoes brought pride to his neighbourhood
Pope Francis was always seen wearing black lace shoes that looked like ordinary ones, a complete contrast to his predecessor former Pope Benedict XVI's flashy ruby red slippers. After the pontiff's death on Monday (April 21), the shoes have not just brought pride to his old Buenos Aires neighbourhood but to the cobbler as well read more
The simple black shoes are among Pope Francis' personal effects that have drawn attention of millions after his death. AP
The man who would become Pope Francis always bought his shoes in the same small store. And now, the remarkably ordinary footwear that surprised and charmed millions has brought pride to his old Buenos Aires neighbourhood — and to his cobbler.
The simple black shoes — a stark contrast to the flashy ruby red slippers of Francis' predecessor, former Pope Benedict XVI — are among the pope's personal effects that have captured attention as his death this week triggers an outpouring of emotion around the Roman Catholic world.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
The seemingly comfortable loafers offer a powerful reminder of Francis' humility, simplicity and lack of ceremony that helped him relate to ordinary people wherever he went.
Who is the third-generation cobbler?
The Muglia family men were the first cobblers in the middle-class Flores neighborhood of western Buenos Aires. Their shop, Muglia Shoes, opened in 1945, just a few years after Pope Francis was born Jorge Mario Bergoglio to Italian immigrant parents.
There wasn't much competition, so when a young Bergoglio came in to buy shoes, it was Juan Jose Muglia's grandfather who sold him the first pair. Bergoglio was in his 20s then, serving as a Jesuit priest at the Basilica of San José de Flores just around the block.
Juan Jos Muglia shows the shoe model that was worn by Jorge Bergoglio at the Muglia shoe store in Flores. AP
'My father, my grandfather, they told me stories about how Father Jorge came from the church around the corner to buy these shoes, they were the ones he liked, and he wore them all the time,' Muglia, 52, told The Associated Press on Thursday.
'They're simple, it's the kind of shoes that waiters like to wear today, Muglia said, holding up a pair of the handmade lace-up loafers. 'They can last you years and years.'
When Muglia took over after his father's death, he added a poster of Elvis Presley, a Harley Davidson motorbike and a vinyl turntable to give the place a hipster note.
A time gone by
The racks now display newer fashions like pointy boat shoes and bright patent leather numbers.
But much of the shop remains the same, including the pinewood-panelled walls, floor-to-ceiling shelves of cream-coloured shoeboxes and, of course, the leather black loafers with grippy, non-slip soles that Francis repeatedly purchased, inspiring local Catholic priests to do the same.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
'Priests came here from all the basilicas in the city, some young priests even came from Rome to buy them,' said Muglia.
They sell for around $170 today — far more than the price-tag Francis saw — due to Argentina's runaway inflation.
When Francis became pope in 2013, Muglia said he offered to send the pontiff off to St. Peter's with a new pair of his favourite shoes. But he recalled Francis saying that his feet had become too swollen in his old age and he needed to find a more customized fit that he could depend on in Rome.
Rather than adopt the typical papal shoes — red velvet or silk — as pope, Francis didn't stray from his Flores roots.
He chose normal black shoes with an orthopaedic sole — a far cry from the Byzantine era, when pilgrims customarily kissed a decorative cross embroidered on the papal shoe and from the era of Pope Benedict, whose bespoke leather slippers in a succulent tomato red prompted Esquire Magazine to name the former pontiff 'Accessoriser of the Year' in 2007, prompting intense speculation about the designer brand.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
As years passed, beyond the occasfional priest or parishioner who dropped into Muglia Shoes, few ever wondered about the brand of Francis' plain footwear.
Juan Jos Muglia shows the shoe model that was worn by Jorge Bergoglio at the Muglia shoe store in Flores. AP
But that changed when Francis died on Monday (April 21) at the age of 88, setting off a frenzy of interest about his Flores roots. Around the world, Francis was remembered for paring down the papacy's inherited pomp to become more accessible — swapping the fur-trimmed velvet cape that popes had worn since the Renaissance for a simple white cassock, and preferring a Ford Focus to the usual papal limo.
As word spread about his original footwear and local journalists flooded the neighbourhood, Muglia said curious customers have bombarded him with requests. He placed a framed portrait of Francis prominently in his window.
'It was a world of people,' Muglia said. 'They came from everywhere.'
The love for Pope Francis in Flores
In Flores, the mourning for Francis feels personal. Residents remember him as someone who lived frugally, visited and advocated for the city's poorest and could often be found sharing Argentina's signature yerba maté drink with old friends and strangers.
At the newspaper stand just down the block from Muglia Shoes, vendor Antonio Plastina, 69, recalled how he and Francis made small talk 'like any two Argentines, a bit of this and that, some politics mixed with soccer.'
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
'He was a marvelous person, those are beautiful memories,' Plastina said, his eyes welling up. After becoming archbishop and cardinal, Francis still made the half-hour drive to Flores from downtown Buenos Aires every Sunday before church.
He always bought the two main Argentine daily papers, Plastina said, and read the news with a cup of coffee at the quiet cafe across the street, now a mattress store on a traffic-clogged intersection.
Although the crowds that poured into Flores upon learning of Francis' death largely tapered out by Thursday, they left a mass of bouquets and handwritten notes to their beloved pontiff at the iron-barred windows of Membrillar 531, the modest house where Francis grew up as the eldest of five siblings.
'My vision is going but my memory is long,' said Alicia Gigante, 91, Francis' neighbour and family friend, who stopped at the house on Thursday morning, leaning on her daughter for support.
'I'll remember him for a long time, always his kindness, his smile, and that greeting when you rang the doorbell and he came out into the street,' she said, her voice trembling. 'There he was, always the same, he would caress you and bless you.'
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Hans India
16 hours ago
- Hans India
SVU commences AP PGCET-2025 entrance exams
Tirupati: AP PGCET-2025 entrance examinations, conducted by Sri Venkateswara University on behalf of the Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE), commenced on Monday. The exams were officially launched by Prof Ch Appa Rao, the Vice-Chancellor of Sri Venkateswara University, who released the question paper code formally. Registrar Prof M Bhupathi Naidu, uploaded the exam code, marking the start of the entrance process. Convener Prof PC Venkateswarlu stated that on the first day, entrance exams were conducted in three sessions for 17 subjects, including English, Sanskrit, Tamil, Fine Arts, Sericulture, Polymer Science, General Studies, Hindi, Urdu, Performing Arts, History, Education, Electronics, Geology, Telugu, Food & Nutrition, and Statistics. Exams were held at 14 centers, including Hyderabad, with an attendance rate of 81 percent, he added. Co-convener Prof K Surendra Babu mentioned that the exams are being conducted under the supervision of AP Online and the TCS team to ensure smooth administration and monitoring.


Indian Express
a day ago
- Indian Express
Plane crashes into ocean near San Diego with 6 passengers onboard
A small aircraft with six people on board crashed into the ocean about eight kilometre off the coast near San Diego on Sunday afternoon, according to US officials. The US Coast Guard said it found debris near Point Loma and began looking for the wreckage in waters about 200 feet (61 metre) deep. 'The Coast Guard launched search efforts as soon as we received reports of the crash,' a Coast Guard spokesperson told the Associated Press(AP). The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said the aircraft was a twin-engine Cessna 414. It went down around 12:30 pm, shortly after taking off. Flight tracking website showed that the plane was heading to Phoenix. Both the FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said they are investigating what caused the crash. 'We are working to determine the facts,' the NTSB said in a statement shared with AP.


NDTV
2 days ago
- NDTV
Video: Ed The Pet Zebra Finally Captured After Galloping For Days In Tennessee Streets
Quick Read Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. Ed the zebra, who escaped in Tennessee, was captured after a week on the run. He gained popularity on social media with videos of his escapades in the streets. Authorities located Ed in a pasture near Christiana and safely recaptured him. Ed the zebra, who was on the run for more than a week in Tennessee, was finally captured, the authorities said. He became a social media sensation with people posting videos of him running amuck in the streets. The Rutherford County Sheriff's Office confirmed that the pet zebra was located in a pasture near a subdivision in the Christiana community in central Tennessee. Ed was recaptured safely on Sunday. He was seen dangling in the air while being airlifted by a helicopter. "Ed was airlifted and flown by helicopter back to a waiting animal trailer," the sheriff's office said in a statement. The sheriff's office also shared a video of Ed being transported safely in a net. His head was seen sticking out, with some netizens assuming he looked sad. Watch the video here: A zebra named Ed has been on the loose in Tennessee for 5+ days, showing up in neighborhoods, highways & Ring cams. It may seem funny—but it's a serious reminder: wild animals are not belong in the wild. Read more: Video:The Associated Press — Lions Tigers & Bears (@LnsTgersandBrs) June 5, 2025 UPDATE — RUTHERFORD COUNTY: Ed The Zebra has been captured 🦓 Full: — The Tennessee Holler (@TheTNHoller) June 8, 2025 Before being recaptured, he was seen over the weekend running along a road in Christiana, Tennessee. A CCTV footage also showed him rampaging through empty streets. While he was galloping, netizens flooded social media with funny memes with one user saying, "I didn't realize that any jails still had their prisoners wear black and white uniforms..." Another wrote, "Is someone in Tennessee playing Jumanji?" Meanwhile, one user jokingly wrote, "He's looking for the zebra crossing". Netizens also raised concerns over Ed's well-being as one user wrote: "It seems that it's enjoying its freedom, but I hope the creature is taken back to the zoo soon, before it gets hurt." As quoted by CBS News, Ed's owner, Laura Ford, said that a team from Texas helped capture him and he is "safe and 100% healthy". "This has been a long, stressful week and I am so happy that it ended the way it did and no one got hurt," she added.