The next time you see a photo of the Pope, try to look closely at what he's wearing.
House of Hansen, at 4223 West Irving Park Road on Chicago's Northwest Side, makes garments that clergy members wear during religious services and has been in business for more than a century, and, owner Gerard Arens says, they recently did a "rush job" to make a garment for a ceremony for Pope Leo the 14th.
"It was kind of a rush to get it through pretty quickly. Normally it would take about six to eight weeks...in this case within a week it was done!
"Our seamstress, Dorothy, when she was making this...I said 'this is for the Pope' and she says 'so it will be perfect like it always is!'"
And Arens says a great number of priests recognized House of Hansen's work when they saw the Pope wearing it.
"It's amazing how many emails and phone calls we got. They just knew it, ...it's a very distinct looking House of Hansen vestment, that design."
And, Arens said the Pope has been a House of Hansen customer before. "We've known the Pope for a number of years because we made things for him when he was the Bishop in Peru and subsequently when he would come in town he would stop in.
"He was actually here about a year and-a-half ago. He said 'I'm being made a Cardinal...so you won't see me again.' Now I know I won't see him again!" Arens said with a laugh, "but you never know, maybe he'll come back to Chicago. I don't know if he'll stop in our store or not but you would hope!"