On the rosary crucifix hanging from the belt of the Slaves of the Immaculate Heart of Mary — and on probably millions of other crosses and crucifixes around the world — there is a clearly visible skull and crossbones at the bottom of the stapes (the vertical beam). It represents the skull of our father, Adam.
There is a strong tradition in the Church that Our Lord Jesus Christ was buried on the very spot where Adam’s skull had been placed — called, for that reason, Golgotha (“the place of the skull”). There is a beautiful theological aptness here, as it signifies that the “Last Adam” restored man from the fall of the “First Adam” right over the dead remains of that Adam whose sin brought death to the world.
In his much discussed interview with Joe Rogan, Mel Gibson made reference to this tradition, electing an intense and drawn out “Really!” from the show’s host.
Inspired by this exchange, LifeSite’s John Henry Westen produced a short video (embedded below), where he “fact checked” Mel Gibson on this claim. Westen cobbled together numerous ancient Christian sources, Jewish sources, and approved private revelations that affirm the tradition Gibson referenced in the Rogan interview, adding some interesting and edifying details along the way.
Image credit: Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Westen also published a piece on the LifeSiteNews site that reproduces the passages he reads off in his podcast: Fact-checking Mel Gibson on Joe Rogan.
