Here comes Santa ... er, the pope

ROME, Italy (Reuters) -- He was not riding on a one-horse open sleigh, but when Pope Benedict XVI arrived on the pope mobile for his weekly audience in St. Peter's Square, on-lookers could have been forgiven for thinking Santa Claus was in town.

To keep warm against the bitter cold, the Pontiff wore a red velvet cap, trimmed with white fur which, together with his scarlet cape, gave him the look of Father Christmas.

The traditional hat, known as a camauro, was commonly worn by popes in the medieval period to keep their heads warm on cold days and it featured on many paintings at the time, but it has rarely been worn in modern times.

Benedict had already shown a taste for the garb of medieval popes, opting for delicate red slippers for daily wear rather than walking shoes favored by his predecessor John Paul II.

Benedict, who changed into his more familiar white skull cap when he arrived at the podium, told a packed St. Peter's Square Christmas was a time to remember the true roots of the faith.

Looking out over the square with its 30-meter (100-foot) Christmas tree, the German pope said that Christmas lights adorning cities and houses around the world should "remind us of another light, invisible to the eyes but not to the heart."

**interesting and cool eh? =p** credits to www.cnn.com and its sources for the article