In a speech at St Peter’s Square in the Vatican, Pope Francis said that the religious symbol should be “contemplated and understood”, and “not be abused”.

Highlighting the religious meaning of the cross, he said: “The crucifix is not an ornamental object or a clothing accessory which is sometimes abused, but a religious sign to be contemplated and understood.

“The image of Jesus crucified reveals the mystery of the death of the Son as the supreme act of love, the source of life and salvation for humanity of all times.

“How do I look at the crucifix? Like a work of art, to see if it’s beautiful or not beautiful? Or do I look inside, within the wounds of Jesus up to his heart? I look at the mystery of God annihilated to death, like a slave, like a criminal.”

His comments mirror those made by the Archbishop of Canterbury in 2013, within the foreword of his first Lent book.

Speaking about how the crucifix is used, Most Revd Justin Welby wrote: “For those early Christians it was a badge of shame. Today it is more commonly seen as a symbol of beauty to hang around your neck. 

‘As a friend of mine used to say, ‘you might as well hang a tiny golden gallows or an electric chair around your neck’.”

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The Most Rev Justin Welby told the hearing that the last three weeks of evidence relating to child sexual abuse in the Church has horrified him.

Asked what he had learned from the hearings, Mr Welby paused and appeared to be fighting tears as he said: “I have learned to be ashamed again, in the past three weeks.

“You can’t read the transcripts, you can’t read the evidence statements, without being moved – at least you shouldn’t be able to.

“And the Church does wonderful wonderful things, you know, across the country, extraordinary things.

“The most stressful job in the Church is to be a parish priest, and to be a good parish priest.

“And that a small minority have betrayed that is horrifying.

“I don’t think I was ever complacent at any point. I hate this too much to be complacent.”

He added: “I want to put on record again – I don’t know how to express it adequately – how appalled I am and how ashamed I am of the Church for what it did to those who are survivors and are coping with this.

“The apologies are fine, but you have got to find ways of making it different and we have got to do it as soon as possible.”

Earlier, the Archbishop said that meeting victims reading their statements had been “horrifying”.

He told the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse that while the perpetrators may be forgiven, they could never be trusted again.

He announced a leave of absence in January after the incident was brought to light. He said on Tuesday that during his time off he “reflected” and has “come to see that many wrongs occurred in 1998.”

Savage added: “The first was my inappropriate relationship with Jules, which was not only immoral, but meets the definition of abuse of power since I was her youth pastor; therefore, when our relationship became physical, there could be no claim of mutual consent.

“Another wrong was the failure to follow due process afterward; Jules deserved, and did not get, a full investigation and proper response 20 years ago.”

He said that stepping down from his position came after much prayer and counsel.

“I know that stepping down…  still doesn’t make things right for Jules,” he explained. “But addressing my own acts of abuse this way acknowledges the importance of confronting abuse in our culture and in the Church at large.”

Following his resignation statement, Highpoint Church announced that an independent review into the incident had been completed and the investigation found no other instances of abuse in Savage’s ministry.

The church said: “Highpoint leadership has come to recognise that it was defensive rather than empathetic in its initial reaction to Ms. Jules Woodson’s communication concerning the abuse she experienced, and humbly commits to develop a…

The Vatican said Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Monsignor Dario Vigano on Wednesday and named his deputy, Monsignor Lucio Adrian Ruiz, to run the Secretariat for Communications.

The so-called “Lettergate” scandal erupted last week after Monsignor Vigano read aloud part of a private letter from retired Pope Benedict XVI at a book launch for a Vatican-published, 11-volume set of books about Francis’s theology.

Marking Francis’s fifth anniversary as pope, Monsignor Vigano had held up Benedict’s letter as a sign of the continuity between the two popes, to blunt critics who complain that Francis’s mercy-over-morals papacy represents a theological break from Benedict’s doctrinaire term.

Monsignor Vigano did not read the whole letter, including omitting the part where Benedict objected to one of the authors because he had been a longtime critic of Benedict and St John Paul II.

The Associated Press reported that the photograph of the letter that Monsignor Vigano’s office had sent out to the media digitally blurred out the lines where Benedict began to explain that he would not comment on the books.

In his resignation letter dated March 19, Monsignor Vigano said he wanted to step aside so that his presence “wouldn’t delay, damage or block” Francis’s reform of the Vatican’s communications operations.

He acknowledged that his behaviour, despite his intentions,…

The incident took place on Sunday in eastern Pakistan and according to World Watch Monitor three Muslim suspects have been arrested, while seven people were sent to hospital.

Haleem Masih, the church’s pastor, filed a police report which stated: “Today at about 1pm I was conducting a worship service when [a group of men, including a government official], equipped with firearms, barged into the church.

“As soon as they entered, [two of them] forcibly took down gospel verses written on banners, while shouting abusive words, tore them into pieces and then denigrated them by throwing them down.”

Church member Iftikhar Bhatti said a Muslim local government official, Muhammad Sharif, and his two sons trampled on the banner and, as the church service ended, a fight broke out between worshippers and the men.

The pastor said in a statement that church members were injured by being hit with sticks and pistol butts.

However, police suspect the conflict arose between two Christian groups and then the Muslim family got involved afterwards.

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