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An angry tourist smashed two ancient sculptures at the Vatican after being denied a chance to meet with the pope. It's just the latest in a series of instances of visitors behaving badly in Rome. Read on to find out what happened, what authorities said about the man, and how long it will take for the ancient works to be repaired. The incident happened around lunchtime in the Museo Chiaramonti, which is part of the Vatican Museums. It holds about 1,000 works of ancient statuary and Roman portraits. The man demanded to see the pope, the newspaper Il Messaggero reported....

A pieta painting displayed at The Catholic University of America’s law school that some see as depicting George Floyd in the place of Jesus was stolen Tuesday night, the school announced. But in an email Wednesday, Nov. 24, President John Garvey said the artwork — which sparked a social media backlash and an ongoing petition drive demanding its removal — has been replaced by a smaller version of the same painting that previously hung in the school's campus ministry office. Titled "Mama," the painting, by artist Kelly Latimore, was installed in February outside the chapel at the university's Columbus School...

[Barf Alert] No, Woke Pontifical Academy for Life, there isn't a "Black Jesus"... Carrara marble is beautiful: the smoothness and intense light of this particular stone made it a favorite of masters in the Italian renaissance.One of the greatest pieces is, of course, Michelangelo Buonarroti's "Pietà", in the Vatican Basilica, carefully restored after an attack made on it in the pontificate of Paul VI. Since the marble is white, the sculpture is all white: not just skin...but draperies, clothes, everything -- obviously.Apparently, the currently woke-led Pontifical Academy for Life thinks attacking this image again, now virtually, is fair game for...

The Christmas Eve showing of “It’s a Wonderful Life” may be intended to make you believe in the importance of even an ordinary person’s life, but underneath that, what are the film’s secret hidden messages, the ones that become apparent only after two or three eggnogs? Let’s mull over some of the wackier possibilities. It’s a salute to atheism. It’s “the least religious but most humanist film you could ever see,” said David Wilson in The Guardian, because it suggests people should fix their problems on Earth rather than waiting for God to help out. Regarding Jimmy Stewart’s character George...

Spanish photographer Samuel Aranda won the 2011 World Press Photo of the Year award Friday for an image of a veiled woman holding a wounded relative in her arms after a demonstration in Yemen. ... the image has religious 'almost Biblical' overtones and noted its resemblance in composition to Michelangelo's Pieta -- but in a Muslim setting. ..." - CBC, Feb 10, 2012 "Almost Biblical." Not... even... close... Comparing Michelangelo's Pietà to some snapshot of a burqa-ed Muslim woman holding some injured Yemeni street protester is an ideal example of Westerners wearing rose-colored glasses. Many Western "intellectuals" are bending...

An unfinished painting of the Virgin Mary and Christ owned by a former American pilot has been hailed as a lost masterpiece by Michelangelo, says an Italian art historian and restorer in a new book. Antonio Forcellino, who has worked on Michelangelo's masterpieces, first came across the pieta, a 63cm x 48cm oil painting on a panel made of fir, when he was contacted by email by its owner, said a report in The Australian. If confirmed, the work will rank alongside only three surviving panel paintings by the Italian master, potentially making it worth more than the record $118...

Mel Gibson's Pieta by Jonathan Tuttle I had intended to write my next article on the critical reception of The Passion of the Christ. After all, there is much to criticize. When one reads the secular reviews of The Passion, one gets the sense that these reviews were pre-written. For instance, A New York Daily News reviewer wrote that "Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is the most virulently anti-Semitic movie made since the German propaganda films of World War II.... The Passion of the Christ is a brutal, nasty film that demonizes Jews at an unfortunate time in...