ROME, Italy (LifeSiteNews) — Called the “new Pieta,” a “blasphemous” version of Michelangelo’s famous Pieta has been unveiled in a Roman basilica, depicting a muscular older man holding a younger man, both of whom are completely naked.
The “new Pieta” was sculpted by Italian artist Jacopo “Jago” Cardillo during the COVID-related lockdowns, and is situated in the Chapel of the Crucifix, in the basilica of Santa Maria in Montesanto in the Piazza del Populo.
Michelangelo’s Pieta shows the Blessed Virgin holding Christ after His descent from the cross, with Mary fully and modestly clothed, and Christ’s modesty covered with the loincloth. Michelangelo’s work has been noted to show how “the beautiful figures of the Virgin Mary and Jesus are echoing the beauty of the Divine.”
In contrast, Jago’s version appears to depict two men. An older, very muscular, bald man bends on one knee, while holding in his arms a younger man with long hair. A sculpted piece of fabric is draped over the older man’s bended knee, but both figures are fully unclothed.
While the statue appears to be of two men, at least one report described it as being of a man and a woman.
The statue is part of the project “‘A door towards infinity’ – Man and the Absolute in art,” within the cycle “Art and Liturgy,” which is being promoted by the basilica’s rector Msgr. Walter Insero.
Commenting on the statue, Insero said it was “a work of contemporary art that contaminates the context. I was struck by the expression of pain, a poignant pain.”
“The work is placed in the Chapel of the Crucifix where the scene of the Cross gives it depth and illuminates the mystery,” Insero added. “It makes us understand the pain of a man who tries to give life to the body of a loved person.”
The artist himself noted that the work was based on “the historical period in which I live.”
“I don’t want to unbalance myself on its meaning, I prefer to leave the observer the total freedom to interpret it,” he told Ansa. “I hope it will become a symbol for the community and for many new sculptors who follow my path on social networks to find courage and inspiration.”
Jago, 34, gained notoriety and the 2012 Medal of the Pontificate after sculpting a marble bust of Benedict XVI, clothed in the papal robes.
When Benedict XVI resigned in 2013, the artist modified the statue to depict the pontiff without clothes, with the title “Habemus hominem,” to show that “the representative of God returned to being a man.”
His “new Pieta” has drawn considerable backlash on social media. Users described it as “not even close to sacred art. It is base, vulgar statuary of ambiguous meaning with no right to be in a church.”
Fr. Ronald Vierling hinted at Satanic influences behind the statue, saying that “I dare say, most — if not all, the problems in the world (and possibly, even the Church) can be traced back to having expelled God to make room for a new tenant: Satan.”
Another Twitter user simply described the statue as “blasphemy.”
LifeSiteNews spoke with Professor David Clayton — provost at Pontifex University as well as a painter and iconographer — who noted that the statue could not even hold the title of “pieta.”
“A pieta is an image that contains Mary holding Christ. Neither the Virgin Mary nor Christ is present in recognizable form — there are traditional forms for each.”
“According to St. Theodore the Studite, whose theology finally settled the iconoclastic controversy in the 9th century, art that is worthy of veneration must bear the name and the recognizable characteristics of the people named,” Clayton observed.
“So you might have Christ and Mary, Mother of God named and then two figures who bear the characteristics that tradition has passed on to us — i.e. the figures must look like who they are supposed to be. You could alternatively have ‘Pieta’ as a name for the image, then it would be understood that Christ and the Virgin Mary are the figures, and again the characteristics of each person should be there.”
Clayton said the work was “not a pieta and not appropriate for a church by any other name either as far as I can see according to this criterion, as it bears no relation to any recognizable religious or sacred Christian theme.”
“Whoever commissioned this or carved it is not following Christian tradition,” he concluded. “It doesn’t become a pieta just because someone randomly decides to call it so.”
Meanwhile Andrew Thompson-Briggs, a writer and manager of GTB Sacred Art, described the statue as a “perversion of the ends of art,” but something which was not unexpected in modern Rome.
“While the artist seems to have talent and formation, his work is dominated by the desire to be provocative. This may well bring him fame and fortune, but it is a perversion of the ends of art,” Thompson-Briggs noted in comments to LifeSiteNews.
“Art is meant to be beautiful and to encourage contemplation. Sacred art has the additional aim of moving the will toward sanctity and the intellect toward the contemplation of God. Unfortunately, the would-be-provocative nature of this artwork prevents the ascent of the mind; instead, we are forced to engage the same tired deconstructionist ideology of the post-68 elite, with its promotion of sexual perversion, gender fluidity, and sacrilege.”
He added that “since this ideology is so very tired, and since it is no longer the province of the intelligentsia, but has become dominant everywhere, the artwork actually fails even in its attempt to be provocative. It comes across merely as conformist regime propaganda. Sadly, it is exactly what one expects to find in a church in Rome today.”
The statue, unveiled October 1, will be on display until February 28, 2022.