Pope reveals he took his late confessor's cross

Associated Press ^ | March 6, 2014 | Nicole Winfield

[yldstrk]

Pope Francis confessed Thursday that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half your mercy."

[yldstrk]

What was he thinking? Wresting a rosary from a dead man's hand? I am dumbfounded, appalled.

[ConservativeMan55]

bttt

[TexasFreeper2009]

me too! honestly... it's like a scene from an anti-Christ movie where the evil seed wont even let his victim lay in his grave in peace and takes a memento of his murder victim which he carries with him always.

[A child of Yah]

Are you sure this isn’t some kind of sick joke?

I just can’t imagine anybody doing this, let alone a “man of the cloth”. I picture my own sons casket, and if anyone even came close to attempting that type of desecration they would be in need of more than just mercy after I got done with them.

[longfellowsmuse]

This is very creepy. The grace and peace of the cross are found in the eucharist and the mass not a cross stolen from the casket of a dead priest. Furthermore it bothers me that he would publicly disclose this…what is the point in that?

[yldstrk]

He wants all to know he is fallible, he puts his pants on one leg at a time

[longfellowsmuse]

This makes sense. I wonder however from the article if he is actually sorry he did this. He states that he still carries it with him and the impression is that the theft was OK since he was planning on using the cross to remind him of merciful works. As a demonstration of his humanity there should be an acknowledgment that his actions were not OK. This is missing from the narrative.

[Bayard]

Before you folks go and judge the Pope. Please consider the source of the information.

Also, please consider the type of act. This is not theft. The clergy in religious orders have no possessions, they give them up. Everything is shared by the community.

This priest who was a confessor would have been literally like a brother, not “a stranger.”

You people have too many worldly notions of possessions.

[BlatherNaut]

This is not theft.

So we can all go help ourselves when we stop by a wake and spot something we like in the casket, as long as the person was "like a brother, not a stranger"? I hope no one appropriated the Rosary from my grandmother's casket when no one was looking. I had given it to her, she had used it for years and our family wanted her to be buried with it.

[Bayard]

You don’t get it.

Who was this priests family?

[martiangohome]

I think I’ll stop by the rectory and take the priest’s big screen tv..thanks !

[rawhide]

Wow! I think the Catholic Church has to be thinking this is the wrong guy for their pope!!!???

[Alex Murphy]

Pope Francis confessed Thursday that he took the rosary cross of his late confessor from his casket and wears it to this day in a fabric pouch under his cassock. He said he did so telling the late priest, "Give me half your mercy."

IB4TPWMA

[BlatherNaut]

You don’t get it. Who was this priests family?

I get it. His spiritual family (comprised BTW of more than the particular person who is telling us this story and can't seem to stop with the controversial, headline-grabbing comments).

[dmz]

Also, please consider the type of act. This is not theft. The clergy in religious orders have no possessions, they give them up. Everything is shared by the community.

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Did not the current pope recently sell His motorcycle? I think he has his own stuff.

[minnesota_bound]

Robbing the dead! I bet he pried out the gold in the guys teeth and took his pinky ring : )

[A child of Yah]

“You people have too many worldly notions of possessions.”
************
Oh come on now “Bayard” ...
If anyone had a worldly notion about possessions, it would be the one who heists a “rosary cross” off a deceased person and then thought it was going to give them some type of “power of mercy”.

I smile at that, “You people” part though.
Who be we’ez anyways?

Alright “YOU PEOPLE” ... SILENCE!!! ... or off with your heads because your opinions and comments are considered too judge-mental to some peeps who are too judge-mental ... smiles ... who loves you baby ... I still do

[Genoa]

Aside from the media-chosen wording "confesses," we need to know whether the Pope thinks what he did was wrong or not. If wrong, why does he still carry this item with him? If not wrong, why not?

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

Oh look... Bergoglio is talking about himself again. What a regular guy he is.

The man is a curse.

[BipolarBob]

Good points! I think I’ll take a cue from “His Holiness” and start grave robbing, selling body parts and prying gold fillings out of corpses. Jesus was hung between two thieves but only forgave one. The one that recognized theft was wrong and repented - not brag about it later.