No gold for the piscatory ring. Pope Francis did not want the Fisherman’s ring that he will wear in his pontificate to be made of the most precious metal. Instead it will simply be silver, even if gilded. The ring will bear the image of Saint Peter with the keys, based on a design by Enrico Manfrini, a sculptor who passed away in 2004, who studied at the Academy of Bologna and subsequently at the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera under the chair of the sculptor Francesco Messina . Upon obtaining his diploma, Manfrini became Messina’s assistant for a quarter of a century, eventually succeeding his master, whose professorship he retained until 1984. The Pope’s spokesman, Father Federico Lombardi, told journalists that at Pope had been subjected to several possible rings, and chose Manfrini’s at the suggestion of Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, who had the ring made by Manfrini for Paul VI, preserved by Pope Montini’s secretary, Monsignor Macchi, and then by Monsignor Malnati. Father Lombardi also specified that Pope Francis will receive the same pallium with the red crosses that was imposed on Benedict XVI at the 2005 inauguration.
