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Dear catholic.com visitors: This Catholic Answers website, with all its free resources, is the world’s largest source of explanations for Catholic beliefs and practices. We receive no funding from the institutional Church and rely entirely on your generosity to sustain this website with trustworthy, accessible content. If every visitor this month donated $1, catholic.com would be fully funded for an entire year. If you’ve never made a gift, now is the time. Your donation will be matched dollar for dollar this week only. Thanks and God bless.
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What color is Jesus’s skin?

Question:

My child asked me if Jesus has brown skin. I didn’t know how to answer the question, since the only pictures or statues we have of Jesus show him as Caucasian.

Answer:

Jesus was a Palestinian Jew, which means he probably looked similar to modern-day Israelis. However, because Jesus’ mission was to the whole world, different peoples are free to create images of him that show him to be one of their own people. That is why you will sometimes see statues or icons of a “Caucasian Jesus” or an “African Jesus” or a “Native American Jesus” or an “Asian Jesus.” Such images demonstrate the universality of the Incarnation.

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