“Forgive me Maurizio for I have sinned.” These are words Maurizio Cattelan will likely be hearing with great frequency over the coming weeks, as the Italian provocateur plays priest as part of his latest stunt-come-sales-scheme, The Confessional.

Until April 22, the guilt-wracked can call a special hotline—+1 601 666 7466 for sinners inside the U.S. with those outside the country advised to use WhatsApp—and submit their confessions for consideration by Cattelan himself. Those deemed most in need of forgiveness will be invited to a livestreamed event on April 23 in which the art-priest will absolve the callers from their sins.

As Cattelan quips in press materials: “In a world of sin, absolution has never been so close.”

Cattelan’s Catholic gambit is tied to the resurrection (i.e. re-release) of La Nona Ora (1999), a wax sculpture of Pope John Paul II lying on a red carpet, struck down by a meteorite. The work’s title, which translates to “The Ninth Hour” in English, refers to the moment Christ died on the cross. At the turn of the millennium, it divided opinion: some considered it blasphemous, others as the ultimate symbol of man’s mortality, and those in the art world as simply a characteristic Cattelan provocation. No matter, the work sold for $886,000 at Christie’s New York in 2001.

Maurizio Cattelan’s miniature “La Nona Ora”. Photo: courtesy Avant Arte.

To mark the 21st anniversary of John Paul’s death and just in time for Easter, Cattelan is issuing a miniature version of the irreverent sculpture in partnership with Avant Arte, the London-based online platform that specializes in collaborating with artists on editions and previously released Cattelan’s We are the Revolution. It’s a devilish edition of 666 with the miniatures of hand-painted resin lying 11.8 inches long and 4.9 inches high. The price? €2,200 ($2,554).

Here’s the rub: the chance to purchase the brick-sized figurine is allocated by random draw, but those who submit a confession gain early access, while those who are selected to confess on the livestream receive a La Nona Ora for free.

A detail from Maurizio Cattelan’s “La Nona Ora”. Photo: courtesy Avant Arte.

“Few works have been consecrated in the collective imagination quite like La Nona Ora,” the CEO of Avant Arte, Mazdak Sanii, said in a statement. “It has been an honor to work with Maurizio to resurrect it this Easter—its second coming as an edition of 666 felt almost predestined.”

Cattelan has been an enfant terrible of the contemporary art world since the 1990s. His profile rose with his sculpture of a fully functioning 18-carat gold toilet, America (2016), an edition of which was bought by Ripley’s Believe It or Not! at Sotheby’s for $12.1 million in late 2025. The Italian’s best-known work, however, is his banana duct-taped to a wall, Comedian (2019), which caused a hoopla at Art Basel Miami Beach and later sold at Sotheby’s for $6.2 million.