Why a crucifix instead of a cross?

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Dewman:
Now I am confused; Pope John Paul wore a gold cross around his neck?
Dewman
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The bishop’s pectoral cross — and this includes the pope’s — isn’t supposed to have a corpus, be a crucifix. Although it is also a reminder to the bishop of Christ’s sacrifice, the pectoral cross is not the sign of Christ’s cross. It is the sign of the bishop’s cross, which the Lord demanded and invited that each of us take up of our own will and follow Him.

karen marie
 
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Malachi4U:
An even better symbol for Christianity would be a Corpus without a cross behind it. It was Jesus who died for us and not the weapon He was killed with.

Jesus is our Faith, not the cross which is a weapon of death. Why use a cross at all? Why not a dove or a empty tomb or a risen Christ or a fish, etc.?

The cross and the crucifix are just symbols and reminders. One is a better representation than the other.
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Because a corpus does not show the character of what He did.​

A corpus on a cross reminds us of the extent of what He did.

To ignore the Cross, would be a catastrophic error: St. Paul preached Christ Crucified, and gloried in the Cross - it is the reminder of the humility of a God who suffered the most shameful and vile and obscene death possible: the corpus alone would not show this: they go together.

To keep them together, also has the good effect of shocking people - just as people were shocked in St. Paul’s time and later: the Apologists had considerable trouble commending faith in - of all men - a crucified Jew. That’s why Docetism was - and is ! - such a temptation: it slurred over the reality of the Cross (which ceased to be a form of execution in the Roman Empire only in 315). The Cross guarantees the reality of the sufferings of Christ.

If Christ did not suffer the extremity of shame and ignominy for us by dying the death of the Cross - He is no Saviour. It is that simple.

To forget the shame and humiliation of the Cross, simply makes His exaltation by His Father meaningless. They are correlative. ##
 
It’s the ultimate symbol of the uniting of heaven and earth during the Mass. The elevated, consecrated host with the crucificx in the background (assuming the crucifix is behind the altar). Wow. :bowdown2:
 
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