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Irregularly spaced letters spelling “F R A NCISC VS” have caused a stir among typography nerds who specialize in spacing and fonts. One called them “an abomination unto design.”
May 4, 2025Updated 9:44 a.m. ET
The arrangements for the funeral of Pope Francis were meticulous, and the ceremony drew a global audience. But it is the arrangement of the letters on his tombstone that are now attracting outsize attention.
The simple slab has only 10 letters, but the spacing between them can make it read like “F R A NCISC VS.”
Of course, the lettering is meant to be read as Franciscus, the derivative of the pope’s name in Latin. (V stood for both u and v in Latin.)
Pope Francis’ marble tomb reflects his simple style and fulfills his desire for an unadorned final resting place. In that sense, the tombstone lettering in Times Roman, a workmanlike font that is widely used in the English language, could be considered appropriate.
But for those who obsess about kerning, the space between letters, the view from above the tomb is not exactly an aesthetically pleasing one.
“Woe be unto the person who decided to do it the way that they did it, just because it’s a bad decision that will last for a long time, unless they change it,” said Charles Nix, the senior executive creative director at Monotype, one of the world’s largest typeface and technology companies.
