From Specola
The Catholic Queens.
There are only eight women in the world who can wear white (instead of black) in the presence of the Pope. The Vatican ceremonial has very specific rules regarding the dress code: ladies must wear black in the presence of the Holy Father and cover their heads with a veil. However, some queens are granted the «privilege of white». Among them is the Catholic Queen Letizia of Spain, who «does not make the sign of the cross because she is an atheist», so the question is why does she make use of the privilege of white reserved for Catholic queens? The only explanation is that, like any self-respecting republican communist, she is very consistent with her inconsistencies. Officially, Queen Letizia is Catholic, since to contract a canonical marriage with Felipe VI in 2004 she had to prove her baptism and training in the faith; we assume she confessed and it is evident that she received communion in front of the whole world. Madrid is well worth a mass and Spain even two. Experts in the Royal Household and the media define her as agnostic or non-believer due to her behavior in religious acts. Her relationship with the ecclesiastical hierarchy is described as «cold» or merely institutional. She fulfills religious acts on her agenda out of protocol and usually delegates acts of greater confessional weight to other family members, such as Queen Sofía. It is common for Letizia, the Catholic queen, not to perform traditional liturgical gestures, such as making the sign of the cross or bowing before religious symbols, even when the rest of her family does so. In her audiences at the Vatican, although she follows the protocol for Catholic queens, we are faced with a «non-believing Catholic queen», or something like that.