Papal cross Papal cross The papal cross is a Christian cross, which serves as an emblem for the office of the Pope in ecclesiastical heraldry. It is depicted as a staff with three horizontal bars near the top, in diminishing order of length as the top is approached. The cross is thus analogous to the two-barred archiepiscopal cross used in heraldry to indicate an archbishop, and seems to have been used precisely to indicate an ecclesiastical rank still higher than that of archbishop. In the past, this design of the cross was often used in ecclesiastical heraldry as a distinctive mark of
Papal Mass only used for the readings and some of the responses, while the next year's Palm Sunday service was for the first time said entirely in Italian. In the earlier papal Mass, only the pope, the deacon, and the subdeacon received Holy Communion. In modern papal Masses many receive, some from the pope himself. It has become common for the pope to celebrate Mass in stadiums or sports arenas abroad, so as to accommodate a larger number of pilgrims. It is also current practice to celebrate some Masses in Saint Peter's Square. However, much more often, papal Masses in Vatican City