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Did the Pieta Actually Happen?

Question:

Did the pieta actually happen?

Answer:

The pieta is the famous Michelangelo sculpture of the body of Jesus taken down from the cross in the arms of his mother Mary.

I assume you are asking if Jesus was really placed in his mother’s arms after he was taken down from the cross.

While this is this action is traditionally the thirteenth station of the cross, it does not appear in the Gospels. The Gospels simply state that Pilate permitted Joseph of Arimathea to take the body and place it in his tomb.

This pious tradition arises from our general understanding of human nature. Mary was near the cross (John 19:25), and so it seems logical that before Joseph of Arimathea took the body of Jesus to the tomb, he would have compassionately permitted his mother to hold her son one last time.

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