You may have seen this picture used and reused across the internet where it looks like Pope Benedict is giving the sign of the devil’s horns. But a closer look shows a deception!
f you look closely at his left hand, you will see a trace of a black under garment just behind his wrist but on his right hand it does not show.
There has always been something about the ever so popular “peace sign”, that looks somewhat like an upside down cross, that rubbed me the wrong way. I think the reason I always found it to be deficient in some way was in the way that most people espouse “peace” while using it, which is anything but! After all, “you shall know them by their fruit”!
It was only while looking through an old pocket size Missal from 1942 that it hit me like the V8 vegetable commercial, it is an Anti-Catholic symbol!
Why are we called Catholics?
The word catholic comes from the Greek word “(katholikos from katholou — throughout the whole, i.e., universal)“, you can read the entire article here: NewAdvent.org
You must remember that at that time shortly after the Apostles died, there were “new churches” popping up everywhere and many taught heretical doctrines. What is old is new again I suppose.
But the best short version of how Christians came to be called Catholic is a quote from St. Pacian from the 4th Century.
“Christian is my name, and Catholic my surname. The one designates me, while the other makes me specific. Thus am I attested and set apart…When we are called Catholics it is by this appellation that our people are kept apart from any heretical name.”