IN THE HOLY SEE, WHY DOESN'T THE MAN HAVE AN ARM?
OR IS THAT NOT HIS HAND?

The man doesn't have an arm because the painting looked better to me as a whole when the arm was removed. The thought "Or is that not his hand?" as you so aptly put it, was an accidental (or "collateral" as they say in the military) result of a pure design decision. It struck me as funny in ways that I wasn't thinking about when I eliminated it. Think of Monty Python's "Every Sperm Is Sacred" song or the biblical "Let not thy left hand know . . . ," etc.

Later, I couldn't resist adding into the lace "Ego te Absolve" or "Your sins are forgiven." According to archaic Church doctrine, this Latin absolution could only be granted by a priest. No talking directly to God. If you wanted to avoid eternal damnation you had to go through the clergy — for a small "handout," of course.