The Pope & the Cross

Today, in “On the Square,” we’re very pleased to present some revealing and insightful quotes from Pope Benedict’s now famous book of interviews, Light of the World . The excerpts include the one that, released in partial form by the Vatican’s own newspaper and inevitably misinterpreted by the world’s press, got all the attention.

Also appearing today is Elizabeth Scalia’s Tuesday column. (It’s not every columnist who gets to share a day with the pope.) In With the Corpus at the Center , she writes:

Non-Catholics, and even some Catholics, have asked how me how I can call a crucifix “beautiful.” It is a depiction of an agonizing, brutal death, and a rank injustice, and yet no other image, not even pictures of beloved family members, can so consistently relieve, reassure, and instruct me as the crucifix. At prayer before it, I am consoled; resting there, I am refreshed.

She then explains why.