a thing to love about Benedict XVI was that even the way he dressed as Pope was not some vain desire for opulence but was itself a subtle yet very much deliberate statement about his desire for the Church to retain continuity with Her past even after the Second Vatican Council

one of his own Liturgists referred to this as visually analogous to how Popes tend to cite their predecessors to signal their continuity with past papal teachings

Benedict XVI understood this principle very deeply and is partly why, in my view, the Church will look back on his Pontificate with fondness