(RNS) A spokesperson confirmed the painting, which uses an artistic style known as a Pietà to depict a Black Virgin Mary cradling Jesus’ body after his Crucifixion, was stolen on Sunday.
Blayne Clegg, a junior at the Catholic University of America in Washington DC, said he discovered the painting a few weeks ago and that it has been met with a universally negative reaction.
“It is just another symptom of the liberalization and secularization of our campus,” a Catholic University student says of the depiction of Floyd as Jesus.