Pope Leo at Mass for the swarms of young people in Rome for the Jubilee.
Anything missing from the altar?
Jesus, where are you?
The Pope is looking for the crucifix but cannot find it. pic.twitter.com/NmUQOVelVU
— Silere non possum (@silerenonpossum) August 3, 2025
I suspect there will be a conversation with someone about that.
At the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe for a conference. The Feast of their Dedication was celebrated with Card. Eijk, Archbishop of Utrecht, as the homilist. HERE
Card. Eijk was a contributor to the important book on “sense of the faithful” which I describe more at length HERE So was Dr. Echeveria who was brutally fired from Sacred Heart Seminary.
Why is this move brilliant? Explain.
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It seems to me that a return to the Benedictine arrangement would solve the, “where’s the crucifix” problem.
“I don’t seem to have an MC anymore right now either” should probably be the follow-up.
Also, bring back the fanon.
Unless I missed something, which is very possible…
If the black king does not take the queen then it’s options are a8, b8, or c7. But Qc8 is immediate mate for any of those.
So the black king must take the queen …Kxa6. White follows with Bc8+. Since there is no way to take or block the bishop the black king is forced to either a5 or b5. But either leads quickly to a forced mate.
If …Ka5, Bd2+ Kb5 (forced), a4 mate.
If …Kb5, a4+ then either …Ka5 or ..Kb4 (forced) but in either case Bd2 mate.
The video gives me the impression the Holy Father was unpleasantly surprised but put on his brave (or pious) face and carried on. I agree with APX and TheCavalierHatherly.
I’m going to play devil’s advocate and say the Pope was just glancing around. I think this is definitely a situation too in which we should heed the warning of Cardinal Zen and be hasty to analyze everything the Pope does.
This illustrates why I am deeply concerned that Leo will continue to decline to make waves in order to keep the “peace.”
I know other priests who would have stopped, quietly told a server or deacon to get the crucifix, and *then* continued. I have seen similar things at Mass when something less crucial was missing.
[something less “crucial”… LOL]
Yeah… he was looking for the crucifix. For sure.
@TradCathMale
This MC has for some unfathomable reason the habit of placing the crucifix between the candelabrae, usually (that is, the times I’ve noticed) on the Gospel side priest-wise (sigh, versus populum complicating even these things), which is the direction Leo glances towards first, finds nothing, glances towards the other set of candelabrae, nothing. So there is reason to believe he’s looking for the crucifix beyond just “unusual glances”.
As a fun side note, Cardinal Zen actually quoted that post with a quote from the GIRM (308):
“Likewise, either on the altar or near it, there is to be a cross, with the figure of Christ crucified upon it, a cross clearly visible to the assembled congregation. It is desirable that such a cross, which may be carried in the entrance procession, should remain near the altar even outside of liturgical celebrations, to remind the faithful of the saving Passion of the Lord.”
Then from Ratzinger’s The Spirit of the Liturgy:
“A cross at the center of the altar is not a hindrance or distraction. On the contrary, it draws everyone together and into the one Lord, into the one Redeemer, into the one Savior, and so helps us to respond correctly: to adore.”
“Moving the cross to the side to give an unimpeded view of the priest is something I regard as one of the truly absurd phenomena of recent decades.”
I thought a crucifix was required, even in the NO?
I am always flummoxed by the apparently-returned obsession with the congregation having an unobstructed view of what’s on the altar. Why does that matter? I think of our Eastern brethren who, through the development and use of the iconostasis, can’t actually see anything that goes on on the altar itself during the Consecration. Are they somehow less Christian, or unable to enter fully into the sacred mysteries because their eyes are prevented from gazing upon the Holy of Holies during the Preparation and Consecration?
A funny thought occurs: the same folks who insist on everyone seeing everything happening “up there” probably also sing that delightful Marty Haugen tune “Eye has not seen…,” totally unaware of the situational irony…
“less crucial” ‘:)
I have been told many times that V2 says that we should not put anything on the altar before bringing the gifts. Nothing, nothing, no candles, no Crucifix.
Unless, of course, is something related to local customs, inculturization, microphones. But not a Crucifix. Never.