The covering of the face in a papal burial is a tradition held over from the Middle ages, when the custom of wrapping a body before burial was reserved for kings, emperors and popes. It is was symbol of the divine authority passed on to them by God through the concept of the divine right of kings and the papal election, representing the face cloth (and full burial shroud) which was placed on and around Christ while he lay in the tomb. At the time, cloth was very expensive and the common man did not have enough income to spend it on cloth he or she would be buried in. As the custom became less formalized, the wealthy in some societies took up the practice, and as cloth became less expensive, it passed on to the common man. Eventually, it lost its status as a symbol of wealth and simply became a symbol of Christ in the tomb and the coming Resurrection. While the full funeral shroud fell out of use in papal burials, it was replaced liturgically with the pall, which goes over the coffin, and is universal for every Catholic burial. The face cloth is the only remnant of this tradition which still is a requirement at the death of the popes.
