Pope Francis skips Sign of the Cross to impart blessing ‘valid for all religions’

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Pope Francis skips Sign of the Cross to impart blessing ‘valid for all religions’
Pope Francis' deliberate avoidance of making the sign of the cross when imparting a closing blessing to young people in Indonesia has raised eyebrows. Others have praised him for being sensitive to the local Muslim culture.



Pope Francis gestures to the sky, during a meeting with Scholas Occurrentes in Jakarta.
Vatican News stream/screenshot

Sep 4, 2024
JAKARTA, Indonesia (LifeSiteNews) — Concluding a meeting with young people of different creeds in Jakarta, Pope Francis gave a blessing without invoking the Trinity, which he said was “valid for all religions.”

At the close of his first full day of appointments in Indonesia, Pope Francis took part in an assembly of participants of the Scholas Occurrentes community, an international organization launched by Francis in Argentina in 2001.

Having engaged in a back-and-forth dialogue with some of the young people involved, the Pope announced he would impart a final blessing. With the group being composed of a number of different religions – Scholas is not a Catholic organization – Francis’ blessing assumed a multi-religious nature.

“I would like to give a blessing. A blessing signifies to say well, to wish something well,” he began. Continuing his prayer of blessing to the assembled crowd, which included Catholics and Muslims, Francis added:

Here, you are from diverse religions, but we have only one god, he is only one.

And in union, in silence, we shall pray to the lord and I shall give a blessing for all, a blessing valid for all religions.

May God bless each of you.

May he bless all your desires.

May he bless your families.

May he bless you present (here).

May he bless your future. Amen.

In closing, Francis did not make the Sign of the Cross as is standard practice for a Catholic cleric when giving a blessing, or did he invoke the name of the Holy Trinity.

Indonesia is composed of a heavily Islamic population: 87% are Muslim with only 3% being Catholic. Given this fact, Francis’ avoidance of making the Sign of the Cross or invoking the name of the Trinity was praised by TV streaming translators, who lauded his sensitivity in the predominantly Muslim nation.

However, Catholic teaching denotes that “the Church imparts blessings by invoking the name of Jesus, usually while making the holy Sign of the Cross of Christ.”

The Sign of the Cross, which invokes by name each of the three persons of the Trinity, is a markedly Christian action since other creeds professing one god – Islam and Judaism – do not accept God as Trinity.

Traditional catechetical manuals outline that the Sign of the Cross “is the outward sign which distinguishes the Christian from other men.” The liturgical rubrics also note how the sign of the cross is a key part of a blessing.

The Sign of the Cross’ use in the Catholic Church dates back to the earliest days, as attested to by St. Basil the Great, who wrote that the practice was handed down from the Apostles who “taught us to mark with the sign of the cross those who put their hope in the Lord.”

The profound significance and importance of the Sign of the Cross was recently expounded on by Francis himself during his June 4 Sunday Angelus address for the feast of the Holy Trinity.

Speaking to the crowd in St. Peter’s Square, Francis commented:

By tracing the cross on our body, we remind ourselves how much God loved us, to the point of giving his life for us; and we repeat to ourselves that his love envelops us completely, from top to bottom, from left to right, like an embrace that never abandons us. And at the same time, we commit ourselves to bear witness to God-as-love, creating communion in his name.

During his 2023 Angelus address, Francis urged Catholics to make the Sign of the Cross in order to promote knowledge of God: “Does one breathe the air of home, or do we resemble more closely an office or a reserved place where only the elect can enter? God is love, God is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and he gave his life for us. This is why we make the Sign of the Cross.”

Francis’ recent decision not to use the Sign of the Cross when addressing the Scholas group has sparked some controversy and been critiqued as promoting religious “syncretism.” As already noted, his trip to Indonesia particularly will be marked by a focus on interreligious dialogue in the heavily Muslim nation.