September 13, 2012. (Romereports.com) The Pope made this statement in 2006 just days after the the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. The day is meant to be a celebration in which Christians remember how Jesus died on the Cross.

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BENEDICT XVI
(Audience, September 17, 2006)
“But what does exalting the Cross mean? Is it not maybe scandalous to venerate a shameful form of execution? The Apostle Paul says: "We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles" (I Cor 1: 23). Christians, however, do not exalt just any cross but the Cross which Jesus sanctified with his sacrifice, the fruit and testimony of immense love. Christ on the Cross pours out his Blood to set humanity free from the slavery of sin and death.

Therefore, from being a sign of malediction, the Cross was transformed into a sign of blessing, from a symbol of death into a symbol par excellence of the Love that overcomes hatred and violence and generates immortal life.”


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