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DHAKA, May 23, 2025 (BSS) - Chief Adviser's Press Secretary Shafiqul Alam has revealed why Chief Adviser Professor Muhammad Yunus wore a black Kurta at funeral of late Pope Francis in Vatican City. 

"We were in Qatar where Professor Muhammad Yunus joined the Earthna Summit. We heard the death of Pope Francis just hours before we flew to Qatar," he wrote in a statement posted on his verified Facebook account today. 

"On the second day of our tour, the date for the funeral mass was announced and the Chief Adviser decided to join the mass to pay last tribute to his longtime friend and a towering champion of the poor and marginalised people," Alam said. 

He said, "The trouble was that to join a funeral you needed a black dress -- preferably black suit and Prof Yunus has stopped wearing suits many decades ago." 

"Wherever he goes he wears Kurta woven in Grameen checks in Bangladesh. We discovered that he had a black Koti, but no black Kurta," the press secretary said. 

He said the Chief Adviser's personal staff searched several Doha markets for black Kurta but the ones they found were too expensive. 

Then, Alam said, they headed to ordinary markets in search of any Dorji who can sew a black Kurta in several hours. "But again no luck." 

"Later we found a shop where the tailor from the subcontinent knew who Yunus was. He agreed to make black Kurta in record time," the press secretary said. 

"It cost us only about Taka 5,000," he added.