Arianna Salerno first moved to Washington, DC in 2022 to attend a Catholic University. However, over the past year, she says she has noticed a rise in gems every time she rides on the metro, and they are now regular presences at Capitol Hill where she hosted multiple internships.
As a millennium symbol of Christian faith, the cross appears to be epidemic immunity. However, cross necklaces and pendants have been popular before, and there may be again as some people feel more comfortable in their faith and seeking other people and community.
Red carpets, social media, protests by high-ranking Democrats, and the White House have seen new prevalence of cross-pendant necklaces. Chappell Roan wore one of the oversized ones at the MTV Video Music Awards in September, hanging in a music video around Sabrina Carpenter's neck. Trendy online store Ssense sells them in almost 50 variations, and mainstream jewellers like Kendra Scott and Zales have many designs.
Recently, the cross necklace flashed across the cable news screen several times a week, hanging between the collarbone of White House press secretary Caroline Leavitt and Attorney General Pam Bondy.
Bondy, 59, wrote in a statement that her necklace is an expression of her “strong Christian” upbringing. “My faith is very important to me,” she said. “That's what passes through me every day.”
Throughout Tiktok, young Christian women share the meaning behind their cross necklaces, saying that it helps them develop a sense of belonging and connection with others.
Sage Mills, a student at the University of Oklahoma, posted a video about her cross necklace. When I see women in government like Levitt and Bondi, I feel that “it feels better. God is important to those who govern our world.”
The cross, the most relevant symbol of Jesus Christ's crucifixion, first appeared when the Roman Empire was a tool for massive torture, said Robert Coboro, the theologian and assistant pastor at the Christian Church of Sierra Madre near Los Angeles. By the fourth century, Koboro said that Christians began to use the cross as a symbol of their religion. Soon the cross became the focus of everyday gems. The collections of the Victoria and Albert Museums in London feature gem dating dating back to the fifth century.
Referring to its original use, Koboro said the cross was “a symbol of the Roman Empire.”
Over the centuries, the cross has evolved as a sign of a moral compass to share with fellow Christians, and as a kind of talisman of personal importance. “They have official meanings, but people bring their meanings. That's where symbols really get their power,” said Koboro, 58, who published a book on Christianity and Fashion Links in 2020.
Many still wear theirs as an outspoken declaration of their faith and as an expression of fellowship with other followers. A survey published in February by the Pew Research Center identifies approximately 62% of US adults as Christians. The group's annual religious landscape survey found that the country's Christian population has stabilized after decades of decline.
“This is the easiest way to know I share my beliefs with people,” said Mills, 20, who received her cross necklace as a gift to celebrate her baptism last year.
When Breana Anderson, a social media specialist in Orem, Utah, visited Jerusalem in 2022, she said that while Cross was not a common symbol of her religious affiliation, it was not a common symbol of the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ. “It's not a symbol of the church, but it could be a symbol of devotion to Jesus Christ and belief in him,” she said.
The necklace is more popular with the younger congregations in her church, and is a wider “Utah culture,” added Anderson, 26.
Its cultural meaning can be difficult to define so that symbols appear to differ depending on geography, church affiliation, and even interpretations of the overall political value system.
The Trump administration has established a new White House faith office to welcome religion to the Western Wings. In recent months, pastors with Christian nationalist beliefs have been invited to the White House on multiple occasions.
The cross necklace has, in a way, become the most relevant choice gem of President Trump's second administration.
Bondi owns several cross necklaces, but most often appears at the official event for the diamond set version he bought at Magilo, a jewelry store in Tampa, Florida.
While Levitt, a White House press secretary, frequently wears large cross pendants at press conferences, Levittt is not the first press secretary to wear a cross.
In an email, Levitt, 27, called the cross necklace “the perfect accessory for any outfit,” adding that “it serves as a reminder of the strength that can only be seen through faith.”
Wearable religious symbols have appeared elsewhere in the government. This weekend, Top House Democrat Hakem Jeffrey of New York wore a big Silverton Cross Pendant necklace to stage a sit-in protest against the GOP budget in a Capitol step with New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Mr. Jeffries grew up in Brooklyn and, as a young man, was a pioneer of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Bedford Stuyvesant.
Some Christians see the visible integration of Christianity and government as a natural advance in America's founding values.
“It was founded on Christian values and I don't think there's any separation,” said Daisy Rogers, 25, a home-based mother and volleyball coach in Gilbert, Arizona.
Rogers, a member of the Latter-day Saint Church of Jesus Christ, began wearing a cross necklace about a year ago as a way to convey her faith when interacting with others. Rogers said he feels Christians are sometimes perceived as weak, but she said she sees government women like Levitt Ware providing “a key example of how to become strong and Christlike.”
Riley White, a content creator and personal trainer in Birmingham, Alabama, began wearing cross necklaces two years ago as a way to “share Christian values and love,” and likened it to an engagement ring.
White, 24, said she felt uncertainty when she recently spotted a cross necklace worn by political figures in the news. “I like seeing the crosses worn by people who have Christian values and who treat people how the Bible teaches us,” White said. “It can be difficult to hear how people wear crosses and talk about people in a way that doesn't necessarily align with Christian values.”
Lucy Collins, an assistant professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, said that while she teaches courses in philosophy, fashion theory and ethics, her appearance in the political realm of the neck often has the influence of partisan politics, she teaches courses in York's philosophy, fashion theory and ethics.
“The cross itself is not a complicated symbol, it clearly represents Christianity,” Collins said. But in contrast to the simplicity of the cross, she added, “Christianity is much more complicated at this moment.”
