Hospital Replaces Crucifix With Mary

This is both a setback for Protestant/Roman* relations and a setback for Christendom.

A hospital in Milan replaces crucifixes with pictures of Mary to appease Muslims.

For one thing, it is a setback for Protestant/Roman* relations because despite the protests of Rome, especially after Vatican II, that Marian devotion was simply "honor" and "respect" instead of the worship and devotion given to the Triune God, on a practical level, Mary has become part of the Godhead and easily replaces Jesus when the chips are down. This will confirm for many Protestants the latent fear that the "Roman Reformation" of Vatican II was only superficial and that the true affections of Rome are idolatrous and turning away from Jesus Christ.Some will say that on a practical level, Mary is already part of the Roman godhead.

I don't personally believe this to be the case. The Roman communion is too broad to make such a sweeping statement. My point is that the ability to thoughtlessly replace Jesus with Mary by grassroots Romanists will confirm for the average Protestant the lingering suspicion that the agenda of Rome is ultimately worship Mary.

But this is also a setback for Christendom. Christian people in a once Christian land are not free to practice Christianity for fear of the unrest from the followers of a minority religion with a history of violence.





*Note: I do not say "Protestant/Catholic" relations because - as one considered "Protestant" by Rome though I prefer to consider myself evangelical, reformed, and catholic - I confess my belief in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic church. To qualify "Catholic", a term for universality, with "Roman" a local and juridictional term for the pretensions of the ancient Bishopric of Rome, is to create an oxymoron and absolve "Protestants" of their obligation to pursue catholicity within the bounds of theological integrity.