Photo of the Week

The showy St. Michael in the Vatican Gardens

On July 5, 2013, the same day the four-hand encyclical Lumen Fidei was officially issued, the two Popes inaugurated the statue of St. Michael you see on this page in the Vatican Gardens. Like the encyclical, the initial idea belonged to Benedict XVI, but the work was finished only under Francis I.

The bronze work is from the chisel of Antonio Lomuscio, duly approved by Pope Ratzinger. It features an almost naked young man in his 20s performing a dance step, which is supposed to be interpreted as a fight with Satan.

Given the precision of detail shown in the youth's body, one only wonders how many hours Lomuscio needed to be with his naked model to achieve it. A parallel question difficult to answer is whether or not the youth who posed as model for this scupture was also chosen by Benedict.

While St. Michael's body is perfectly sculpted, Satan's body is blurry, with skin and flesh peeling off, giving the impression it is in an advanced stage of putrefaction. To avoid both figures being entirely nude, the artist sculpted a floating cloth - possibly brought by a gust of wind, since it is not supported anywhere - only enough to cover both male genitalia.

Another point of interest is the spear of St. Michael. According to the pictures available on the internet, it seems that the spear does not touch Satan. It passes through his legs to hit the sphere - earth - over which the "fight" is taking place. In the worse case scenario, the spear would be piercing the Devil's tail; see third row below. Thus, St. Michael is not injuring any vital part of the Devil. In this stance, the Archangel appears as a very inefficient protector of the Church, rather than a powerful one, as Francis pretended in his prayer.

All this exuberant exposition and blessing of male bodies in bronze took place at the beginning of July, when the "gay" parades with thousands of homosexuals exposing their bodies were still being staged around the world. What an unfortunate coincidence !

Watch the video from where these photos were taken, here.

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Posted September 22, 2013

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