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<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....

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. Back in December of 2009, little Jalen Cromwell of Taunton, Massachusetts, was forced to undergo psychological evaluations for drawing a stick figure of the crucified Jesus. See here. And electrician Colin Atkinson's palm cross was deemed "insensitive." See here. As noted here, "..David Cameron's government will insist at the European Court...

Q: My parish has a beautiful crucifix mounted on the wall behind the altar that has been a great aid in my prayer life. Unfortunately, I must pray without this aid during the seasons of Christmas and of Easter, as during these seasons the crucifix is completely covered. During Christmas, a star is placed above the crucifix with a tail that hangs down to completely cover it. Likewise, during Easter, a banner of the Risen Christ is hung over the crucifix so that it is hidden from view. I realize that "a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon...

Featured Term (selected at random):CROSS ON STAFF Symbol of St. Philip the Apostle because he was a traveling missionary who used the cross effectively in his contest with paganism and eventually died on it. St. Bridget of Sweden (1303-73) likewise has a cross-mounted staff as her emblem. The Latin style pommée cross with knoblike rounded ends is often used as a ceremonial cross. All items in this dictionary are from Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

(AINA) -- In mid-October Egyptian media published news of an altercation between Muslim and Christian students over a classroom seat at a school in Mallawi, Minya province. The altercation lead to the murder of a Christian student. The media portrayed the incident as non-sectarian. However, Copts Without Borders, a Coptic news website, refuted this version and was first to report that the Christian student was murdered because he was wearing a crucifix. "We wanted to believe the official version," said activist Mark Ebeid, "because the Coptic version was a catastrophe, as it would take persecution of Christians also to schools."...

SAN DIEGO -- A full panel of federal judges has declined to rehear the case of a war memorial cross in a public park in San Diego that has been deemed unconstitutional by the court. A group fighting to preserve the monument announced Monday that the 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals denied its request. Five of the judges dissented, stating the cross should stay. A three-judge panel in January ruled that the cross conveys a message of religion and is unconstitutional. Kelly Shackelford says her organization will appeal to the Supreme Court. Shackelford is an...

September 14, 2011   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 for...

The 5.8 magnitude earthquake that shook the East Coast on Tuesday rattled a church in Alexandria, Va. so hard that bricks fell through a stained glass window in the ceiling and then broke off the right arm of Jesus Christ on a large crucifix above the altar. The damage occurred at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Old Town Alexandria, just a few miles across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Further damage to the church included collapsed chimneys and brick walls crumbling. It was the latter that sent bricks tumbling through a stained glass window above the crucifix in the...

Sitting Bull (sitting) wearing his crucifix Not long ago, I was speaking with Father Phil Wolfe about the evangelization of the Flathead Indians in northwest America. He stood up up from his desk and went to one of his many bookshelves and pulled down a book. He opened it and set it in front of me with a page open to a photo. "Who's that?" I had seen the photo several times since my youth. It's in every student's US History book. "That's Sitting Bull," I said. "Have you ever seen this photo before?" he asked. "Yes, of course."...

www.catholicnewsagency.com European court says crucifixes can remain in Italian schools The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights issues its ruling. Credit: Council of Europe Strasbourg, France, Mar 18, 2011 / 12:08 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Italian public schools can continue to display crucifixes in classrooms, overturning an earlier decision that declared them to be a human rights violation.Seventeen judges of the Grand Chamber gave the 15-2 ruling on March 18, holding that there had been “no violation of Article 2 of Protocol No. 1 (right to education) to...

Europe is the most faith deprived region of the world, a cool zone of the gray secularism on the globe, whose own pious fervour has grown damp. [kreuz.net] The Munster Publicist Felizita Küble published an article in a broadcast in the church-antagonnistic German weekly 'Die Zeit'. The article was published on 6 August. There she interviewed US Attorney of European Law, Joseph Weiler.

(ANSA) - Rome, June 30 - The Italian government has voiced its optimism over the outcome of an appeal heard Wednesday against a landmark European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ruling on the display of crucifixes in school classrooms. Last November, the ECtHR said the compulsory display of crosses in Italian schools violated children's and parents' freedom of belief, prompting Rome to request that the matter be referred to the court's appeal body, the Grand Chamber. Following the three-hour hearing, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy had "everything in order to ensure a positive result". "This is a great...

For atheist human rights activist, crucifix in Italian classrooms not against secularism Nirmala Carvalho According to Lenin Raghuvanshi, “Human rights and democracy do not exist in a vacuum, in a value-neutral space. Denying the identity, culture and history of a society is a violation of secularism and human rights.” New Delhi (AsiaNews) – “The crucifix in Italian classrooms is not a tradition that goes against the values of secularism,” Indian human rights activist Lenin Raghuvanshi told AsiaNews. “A secular education means learning from history and logic. Jesus Christ brought peace, reconciliation, non-violence and justice in the world,” said Raghuvanshi who...