The Devil may wear Prada but the Pope certainly doesn't

In an unusual move the Osservatore Romano, the Holy See's official newspaper, published a report dismissing the widely held belief.

It has been reported several times that the Pope's bright red shoes are made by the Italian designer when in cat they are the work of a humble cobbler.

However the Pope is a fan of Serengeti sunglasses and when not wearing shoes by Adriano Stefanelli does slip into some Geox loafers.

Cool: Pope Benedict XVI, wearing sun glasses, smiles as he come back from a walk in Les Combes d'Introd, near Aosta in the Italian Alps

The article in Osservatore Romano was headlined:"The liturgical vestments of Ratzinger" and by Spanish writer Juan Manuel de Prada - no relation to the designer.

He described how US magazine Esquire had described the Pope as one of the world's most elegantly dressed men and complimented him on his alleged Prada loafers.

However de Prada said: "This banality is of an era which tends to trivialise what it does not understand."

He added that the Prada rumour had begun after Pope Benedict was sported wearing a red ermine "Santa Claus" style hat one winter morning known as a Camauro.

De Prada said:"Naturally the attribution that he wore Prada was false" and that in reality the Pope was "simple and sober" when it came to his wardrobe.

He noted that when he was elected Pope in April 2005 he had greeted the world with the sleeves of a "modest black jumper clearly visible.

"The Pope is not dressed by Prada but by Christ."