The “wooden cross” Pope Francis was holding during his pontifical visit to South America, which includes Ecuador, Bolivia and Uruguay, drew the attention of media outlets.
The simple wooden cross (crozier) which the Pope holds is similar to the cane of the shepherd, being far from being made of gold or jewels. The Pope entered Samanes Park, in the city of Guayaquil of Ecuador, to celebrate his first Mass in his South American continent, which is not far from his native country, Argentina, to find out that his “cross’’ because the centre of inquiry. Where did you get it from?
The answer was clear and explicit, not by the Pope, but rather by the spokesperson for the Holy See, Fr. Federico Lombardi, who belongs to the "Jesuits" as Pope Francis does. “It is from Bethlehem, it is made of the Holy Land olive wood,’’ Fr. Lombardi made this abridged and straightforward answer. This answer aroused in us, the children of this region, further pride.
Fr. Lombardi pointed out that the Pope had held the "original copy" of this cross for the first time on Palm Sunday in 2014, where the crosses are used to hold palms and olive branches high. There are so far two stories relevant to the cross. The first one says that the cross can be traced back to Somali immigrants. The second story says that it is from the prisoners of San Remo prison in Italy whom the Pope had visited. Considering the validity of any of these stories, this very cross was "partially damaged'' during the Pope's trip to the Holy Land. The Pope, consequently, asked the people of the Holy Land to make a similar cross.
The Pope, therefore, holds a cross from Bethlehem, typically from the same wood that the ''manger'' of Lord Jesus Christ--who was born poor and humble--was made of. It is made of the same wood that represents the country's olive trees that are silent, patient and steadfast in the face of daily attempts to uproot them and erect in their replaces walls which are as thick as hatred is.
Those very same olive trees represent "the source of livelihood" for the people of Palestine in whose faces the doors of freedom are locked, yet despair will never overwhelm them. They are also the same olive trees of which "Arafat" had raised a branch at the United Nations in 1974 to tell the world, "do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.''
The cross is definitely made of olive trees that can be traced back to hundreds or rather thousands of years belonging to a mountain known as Mount of Olives which witnessed the beads of sweat dropping off the forehead of the Teacher a few hours before He was crowned with thorns.
Pope Francis walked among thousands of Ecuadorans or rather one-and-a-half million people, talking to them about Virgin Mary and her role at the wedding in Cana of Galilee. In the second Mass, he talked to them about Lord Jesus' prayer on the night preceding His death (Holy Thursday), namely at Mount of Olives which is not very far from the place where the cross was made.
This cross, made by Arab hands, is next to the cross of the Good Shepherd hanging over his chest. This is designed to tell the world of today that the world should be ruled by gentleness. The oppression and ferocity of humans as well as their weaponry merely destroy humanity that has not tasted gentleness, forbearance and forgiveness.
It is to be noted that the cross of Francis does not hold the One who was crucified. Did the Arab carpenter forget that?
No, the throne of the cross is left vacant to be placed by every oppressed people and every person suffering silently from psychological and physical pain.
O Lombardi! Your statement has made wounds quite gaping!
