Oh, yuck!

It didn't take long for the FOX News feed from St. Peter's Square to be marred by a particularly jarring illustration of exactly what's wrong with the institution Pope Benedict now heads.

A woman in the crowd held a large bronze crucifix- on which the crucified figure was not Jesus, but Mary.

The infant Jesus seemed to be clinging to her robes, like an afterthought.

I know. Catholics pray to Mary and the saints much as any Christian might ask his fellow believers here on earth to pray for him or for her. But the trouble is that even so, Jesus has always been relegated to the status of an afterthought as a result.

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Well, as noted above, I got a better look at a picture of it. It's Jesus on the cross after all, with Mary standing beside Him- both wearing those big, elaborate crowns the BVM is often portrayed as wearing in Roman Catholic iconography.

On the cross? And the question still remains: what business does the BVM have being any part of a crucifix?