[Judica me]

I'm very concerned that Pope Benedict XVI continues to carry that grotesque crucifix carried for many years by his predecessor. He needs our prayers.

[bornacatholic]

Around my neck I wear the Miraculous Medal and the Crucifix John Paul the Great chose for his Pontificate.

I think the Crucifix is inspirational and truly depicts what my sins did to Jesus. The Crucifix depicts the God-Man as He truly was - emptied totally out for me; exhausted, tortured, dead, having suffered unimaginable agony.

Any "grotesqueness" is my sin.

[Pyro7480]

In time, he will get his own staff. It's too soon. They have to commission someone to make a fitting staff for the new Pope. According to a colleague of mine, JP2's staff isn't Benedict XVI's style.

[maryz]

that grotesque crucifix carried for many years by his predecessor.

Crucifixion is a grotesque and horrible and shameful death. C.S. Lewis points out somewhere that the crucifixion did not show up as a theme in Christian art until the generations that had seen actual crucifixions had died.

[Romulus]

I have never cared for that crosier, but to call it "grotesque" is a reach. Would you have him toting something polite and docorous, suitable for a little girl's First Communion?

[Romulus]

I have never cared for that crosier, but to call it "grotesque" is a reach. Would you have him toting something polite and decorous, suitable for a little girl's First Communion?