These days, no self-respecting celebrity’s jewellery collection would be complete without the odd diamond-studded cross or two – and the Vatican has taken umbrage. Hollywood cleavages are no place for the symbol of Christ’s suffering, says the Vatican-based agency Fides, which brands the current fashion trend “incomprehensible”.
“There is a spreading fashion of wearing crosses decorated with diamonds and other precious tones,” reads a statement released by the agency this week. “Jennifer Aniston wears a cross of precious stones, model Naomi Campbell has an enormous collection of jewel-studded crosses, and actress Catherine Zeta-Jones wears a gold and diamond cross.”
The document goes on to ask: “Is it relevant with the spirit of the gospels to spend thousands to buy a sacred symbol of Christianity and then in an un-Christian manner forget perhaps those that suffer and die of hunger in the world?”.
The stars specifically named in the document are not alone in their fashion tastes, however, and indeed many are come lately to what the Vatican describes as “the mania of the moment”. A key trend setter was someone who has already fallen foul of the powers-that-be in the Catholic Church in the past – Madonna. The Material Girl was threatened with excommunication after performing her hit single Like A Prayer at a Rome gig while wearing an outsized cross back in 1985.
Other stars to invest in the religious-themed trinkets are Elizabeth Hurley, who is rarely seen without her small, diamond-studded version, Elton John, with several in his extensive jewellery collection, and Victoria and David Beckham who spent £40,000 on a matching pair of gold crucifixes encrusted with square-cut diamonds.
Fides, the agency issuing the strongly worded criticism, is a charity organisation based in the Vatican which the Pope has referred to as his “right arm”.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
