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September 14, 2015   Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross Reading 1 Nm 21:4b-9 With their patience worn out by the journey,the people complained against God and Moses,“Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert,where there is no food or water?We are disgusted with this wretched food!” In punishment the LORD sent among the people saraph serpents,which bit the people so that many of them died.Then the people came to Moses and said,“We have sinned in complaining against the LORD and you.Pray the LORD to take the serpents from us.”So Moses prayed...

On arrival in La Paz, Pope Francis was presented by Bolivian President Evo Morales with a wooden crucifix carved in the form of a hammer and sickle, the symbol of Lenin, Stalin, Mao and Fidel. Had Pope John Paul II been handed that crucifix, he might have cracked it over Evo’s head. For John Paul II had seen up close what communism did — to his country, his church and his people in 45 years of Bolshevik rule. On his arrival in the Nicaragua of Daniel Ortega in 1983, Pope John Paul castigated a priest-collaborator who dared to serve that...

Full title: "For the record: Pope Francis personally clarifies that he was not offended by Hammer-and-Sickle "crucifix", explicitly acknowledges the Marxism of its Jesuit originator -- and praises him." As expected, Pope Francis held an in-flight press conference on his way back to Rome this Monday. As widely reported by secular media, he made use of this opportunity to personally clarify his thoughts about the Hammer and Sickle "crucifix" (and the medallion, the "Order of Fr. Espinal" featuring a smaller version of the same) that were presented to him by President Evo Morales of Bolivia. Catholic News Agency has, thankfully,...

BOLIVIA’S President Evo Morales handed Pope Francis an unusual and some say “provocative” gift during the pontiff’s visit to the country: a carving of Christ crucified on a wooden sickle and hammer. The sculpted juxtaposition of two of the world’s most potent symbols, Christianity and communism, was made by Jesuit priest Luis Espinal. A poet and artist, Espinal was assassinated in 1980 by right-wing paramilitaries, and the pope paid tribute to him on Wednesday on his way from the airport to La Paz, stopping at the site of his death. Pope Francis is the first Jesuit pope.

When leftist Bolivian president Evo Morales on Thursday presented Pope Francis with a “communist crucifix” – a carving of Christ crucified on the hammer of a hammer and sickle – the Pope's only reaction was to say, “This is not ok,” while shaking his head. Shortly after his July 8 arrival at the Bolivian administrative capital of La Paz, Pope Francis made a courtesy visit to Morales at the Palace of Government. At such meetings, the leaders customarily exchange gifts; Pope Francis gave the Bolivian president a mosaic of the Marian icon of the “Salus Populus Romani,” her role as...

Finding the Good in Good Friday By: Msgr. Charles PopeWhen I was younger, and through my seminary years, I had usually seen the crucifix and Jesus’ suffering on the Cross in somber tones. It was my sin that put Him there, had made Him suffer. The Cross was something that compelled a silent reverence and suggested to me that I meditate deeply on what Jesus had to go through. I would also think of Mary, John, and the other women beneath the Cross mournfully beholding Jesus as He was slowly and painfully dying. These were heavy and somber notes but...

Pieces of old gates, rusty chains, scrap metal scattered, which together have the form of Jesus, hung on the cross, is what has made a young Argentinean artist, Alejandro Marmo, friend of Francis, also referred to as "the artist of the Pope". "Christ worker", is the name of the work that a few days ago a good impression in the heart of the Vatican Gardens. The irons used for its development are all from a local Pontifical Farms in Castel Gandolfo where these irons and gates abandoned, scraps of yesteryear, were herded.

Photo courtesy of Sgt. Dennis Jessick For the last 29 years, the faithful and the curious have braved the harsh Michigan winter on one Saturday in February or March to step onto the frozen surface of Little Traverse Bay, near Bayfront Park in Petoskey.There was a record crowd this year:  According to the Emmet County Sheriff’s Department, 2,021 viewers made the hike on the frozen lake March 7.  Sgt. Dennis Jessick of the Emmet County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, who organizes the event each year, reported that many of the locals and international visitors stood in line for two and a half...

As noted here,Tom Ford, a designer and self-styled "provocateur," has created a penis crucifix for the Christmas season. When one of the world's leading exorcists, Father Gabriele Amorth, was asked how one can tell if someone is possessed, he replied, "By their aversion to the sacrament and all things sacred." One of the clearest signs of demonic possession is a hatred for the Eucharist or the crucifix. And isn't this precisely what we are witnessing today? As our world immerses itself more and more in sin, the numbers if demon-possessed multiply exponentially.

So much for the seventh commandment. Unholy crooks better pray the big man upstairs wasn’t watching when they swiped a 5-by-3 foot crucifix from a Bronx church during services on Wednesday. The $5,000 German-made wooden cross was lifted from the lobby of Padau Roman Catholic Church — near a sign proclaiming, “Jesus wants all of us to come to him” — between 6:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., police sources said. “I’m distressed. That crucifix means so much to the people here … I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Josu Iriondo, 75, pastor of the church on East 166th Street...

A crucifix with the corpus renderedwith the wounds as observed in thethe image on the Shroud of Turin. Beholding a crucifix discomfit us. The poles and the bloodied Man hanging from it makes us feel that not all is well with the world. Once understood, beholding a crucifix reminds us of the cost God paid for our salvation and that doesn't make us feel better with ourselves. All that pain and bloodshed was for us? It discomfit even more those who feel themselves as righteous enough to resist and even oppose such a barbaric death on their behalf. Brethren,...

David and Delia Jimenez of Newburgh consider themselves very religious Catholics, so, when Mrs. Jimenez’s diagnosed cancer disappeared two years ago, they attributed it to their praying at St. Patrick’s Church. Mr. Jimenez wanted to show his appreciation, so his wife asked the priest if he could clean the large crucifix outside the house of worship as a thank-you. He was granted the OK and, on Memorial Day 2010, as he stood on a step stool scrubbing the stone image of Jesus Christ, the monument toppled over, crushing his leg. He was rushed to Westchester Medical Center, where his leg...

<p>Just two days before the canonization of Pope John Paul II, a giant crucifix erected in his honor collapsed in Italy, crushing a young man and killing him, according to ANSA.</p> <p>A piece of the 30-meter (98-foot) high wooden crucifix fell down during an event near the village of Cevo, in northern Italy, instantly killing the 21-year-old man. The Jesus Christ figure attached to the cross is six meters high and weighs 600 kg, according to AFP.</p>

A man has been crushed to death after a giant crucifix dedicated to Pope John Paul II collapsed, just days before a historic Papal canonisation in Rome. The 30-metre-high (98ft) wooden and concrete cross fell during a ceremony in the Italian Alpine village of Cevo, near Brescia. Another man was taken to hospital. The structure was dedicated to John Paul II on his visit to the region in 1998. In a strange co-incidence, the 21-year-old man named as Marco Gusmini by local media, was reported to live in a street named after Pope John XXIII – who will also be...

An Italian man was crushed to death on Thursday by a giant crucifix dedicated to the late Pope John Paul II, just days before the Polish pontiff will be made a saint in a ceremony at the Vatican. In a bizarre coincidence, the 21-year-old man was reported to have been living in a street named after Pope John XXIII – who will also be canonised in the ceremony on Sunday, in an event that is unprecedented in the 2,000 year history of the Catholic Church. The man, named as Marco Gusmini, was posing for a photograph with a group of...

The Most Rev Justin Welby said the Cross has been trivialised and ceases to shock or challenge people. Archbishop Welby wrote that the symbol should represent the ‘deepest encounter and radical change’ for Christians. He added: ‘For those early Christians it was a badge of shame. ‘Today it is more commonly seen as a symbol of beauty to hang around your neck. ‘As a friend of mine used to say, you might as well hang a tiny golden gallows or an electric chair around your neck.’ In a foreword to a book which will be published in the run-up to...

This is not a crucifix Have you ever been in one of those Catholic institutions–maybe a school or hospital where some well meaning, shallow minded sentimentalist has gone through and got rid of all the crucifixes and replaced them with those corny risen Lord crucifixes?Have you ever wondered why you don’t like them much? Well, I’ve figured it out.First of all I don’t like them because they smell like a bit of politically correct maneuvering. Somebody somewhere got the idea that the crucifix was too gruesome for our little children in schools. They shouldn’t be greeted with an image...

The suspicions of Oklahoma Sen. James Inhofe were correct: Rather than sitting before the House Energy and Commerce Committee three weeks ago to explain theways he “crucified” oil and natural gas companies, insteadAl Armendariz – who cancelled his appearance at the last minute – met with the Sierra Club for a job interview. This time the recently resigned EPA’s Region 6 administrator will eagerly attack another fossil fuel, joining the litigious environmental group as part of its “Beyond Coal” campaign. If there was any question that Armendariz unfairly regulated the gas and oil businesses under his authority in Texas, Oklahoma,...

A deeply religious New York man who believes a church's giant crucifix cured his wife of cancer had his own leg amputated after the same crucifix collapsed on top of him.

Head of the Scottish Catholic church, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, says symbol shows you 'live by Christ's standards in daily life' Britain's most senior Catholic cleric has called on Christians to wear a cross every day as "a symbol of their beliefs" and to combat the marginalisation of religion in modern society. The plea by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Catholic church in Scotland, to be made in his Easter sermon, comes as the Anglican archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, appealed for more people to attend church this Sunday – even if they are "a bit vague" about religion....