HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Paul VI Audience Hall
Wednesday, November 18, 2009

 

The Cathedral from the Romanesque to the Gothic Architecture:
The Theological Background

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

In the Catecheses of the past few weeks I have presented several aspects of medieval theology. The Christian faith, however, deeply rooted in the men and women of those centuries, did not only give rise to masterpieces of theological literature, thought and faith. It also inspired one of the loftiest expressions of universal civilization: the cathedral, the true glory of the Christian Middle Ages. Indeed, for about three centuries, from the beginning of the 11th century Europe experienced extraordinary artistic creativity and fervour. An ancient chronicler described the enthusiasm and the hard-working spirit of those times in these words: "It happens that throughout the world, but especially in Italy and in Gaul, people began rebuilding churches although many had no need of such restoration because they were still in good condition. "It was like a competition between one people and another; one might have believed that the world, shaking off its rags and tatters, wanted to be reclad throughout in the white mantle of new churches. In short, all these cathedral churches, a large number of monastic churches and even village oratories, were restored by the faithful at that time" (Rodolphus Glaber, Historiarum, libri quinque, 3, 4).

 

Various factors contributed to this rebirth of religious architecture. First of all more favourable historical conditions, such as greater political stability, accompanied by a constant increase in the population and the gradual development of the cities, trade and wealth. Furthermore, architects found increasingly complicated technical solutions to increase the size of buildings, at the same time guaranteeing them both soundness and majesty. It was mainly thanks to the enthusiasm and spiritual zeal of monasticism, at the height of its expansion, that abbey churches were built in which the Liturgy might be celebrated with dignity and solemnity. They became the destination of continuous pilgrimages where the faithful, attracted by the veneration of saints' relics, could pause in prayer. So it was that the Romanesque churches and cathedrals came into being. They were characterized by the longitudinal development, in length, of the aisles, in order to accommodate numerous faithful. They were very solid churches with thick walls, stone vaults and simple, spare lines. An innovation was the introduction of sculptures. Because Romanesque churches were places for monastic prayer and for the worship of the faithful, rather than being concerned with technical perfection the sculptors turned their attention in particular to the educational dimension. Since it was necessary to inspire in souls strong impressions, sentiments that could persuade them to shun vice and evil and to practise virtue and goodness, the recurrent theme was the portrayal of Christ as Universal Judge surrounded by figures of the Apocalypse. It was usually the portals of the Romanesque churches which displayed these figures, to emphasize that Christ is the Door that leads to Heaven. On crossing the threshold of the sacred building, the faithful entered a space and time different from that of their ordinary life. Within the church, believers in a sovereign, just and merciful Christ in the artists' intention could enjoy in anticipation eternal beatitude in the celebration of the liturgy and of devotional acts carried out in the sacred building.

 

In the 12th and 13th centuries another kind of architecture for sacred buildings spread from the north of France: the Gothic. It had two new characteristics in comparison with the Romanesque, a soaring upward movement and luminosity. Gothic cathedrals show a synthesis of faith and art harmoniously expressed in the fascinating universal language of beauty which still elicits wonder today. By the introduction of vaults with pointed arches supported by robust pillars, it was possible to increase their height considerably. The upward thrust was intended as an invitation to prayer and at the same time was itself a prayer. Thus the Gothic cathedral intended to express in its architectural lines the soul's longing for God. In addition, by employing the new technical solutions, it was possible to make openings in the outer walls and to embellish them with stained-glass windows. In other words the windows became great luminous images, very suitable for instructing the people in faith. In them scene by scene the life of a saint, a parable or some other biblical event were recounted. A cascade of light poured through the stained-glass upon the faithful to tell them the story of salvation and to involve them in this story.

 

Another merit of Gothic cathedrals is that the whole Christian and civil community participated in their building and decoration in harmonious and complementary ways. The lowly and the powerful, the illiterate and the learned; all participated because in this common house all believers were instructed in the faith. Gothic sculpture in fact has made cathedrals into "stone Bibles", depicting Gospel episodes and illustrating the content of the liturgical year, from the Nativity to the glorification of the Lord. In those centuries too, the perception of the Lord's humanity became ever more widespread and the sufferings of his Passion were represented realistically: the suffering Christ (Christus patiens) an image beloved by all and apt to inspire devotion and repentance for sins. Nor were Old Testament figures lacking; thus to the faithful who went to the cathedral their histories became familiar as part of the one common history of salvation. With faces full of beauty, gentleness and intelligence, Gothic sculpture of the 13th century reveals a happy and serene religious sense, glad to show a heartfelt filial devotion to the Mother of God, sometimes seen as a young woman, smiling and motherly, but mainly portrayed as the Queen of Heaven and earth, powerful and merciful. The faithful who thronged the Gothic cathedrals also liked to find there, expressed in works of art, saints, models of Christian life and intercessors with God. And there was no shortage of the "secular" scenes of life, thus, here and there, there are depictions of work in the fields, of the sciences and arts. All was oriented and offered to God in the place in which the Liturgy was celebrated. We may understand better the meaning attributed to a Gothic cathedral by reflecting on the text of the inscription engraved on the central portal of Saint-Denis in Paris: "Passerby, who is stirred to praise the beauty of these doors, do not let yourself be dazzled by the gold or by the magnificence, but rather by the painstaking work. Here a famous work shines out, but may Heaven deign that this famous work that shines make spirits resplendent so that, with the luminous truth, they may walk toward the true light, where Christ is the true door".

 

Dear brothers and sisters, I would now like to emphasize two elements of Romanesque and Gothic art that are also helpful to us. The first: the masterpieces of art created in Europe in past centuries are incomprehensible unless one takes into account the religious spirit that inspired them. Marc Chagall, an artist who has always witnessed to the encounter between aesthetics and faith, wrote that "For centuries painters dipped their brushes into that colourful alphabet which was the Bible". When faith, celebrated in the Liturgy in a special way, encounters art, it creates a profound harmony because each can and wishes to speak of God, making the Invisible visible. I would like to share this encounter with artists on 21 November, renewing to them the proposal of friendship between Christian spirituality and art that my venerable Predecessors hoped for, especially the Servants of God Paul VI and John Paul II. The second element: the strength of the Romanesque style and the splendour of the Gothic cathedrals remind us that the via pulchritudinis, the way of beauty, is a privileged and fascinating path on which to approach the Mystery of God. What is the beauty that writers, poets, musicians, and artists contemplate and express in their language other than the reflection of the splendour of the eternal Word made flesh? Then St Augustine says: "Question the beauty of the earth, question the beauty of the sea, question the beauty of the air, amply spread around everywhere, question the beauty of the sky, question the serried ranks of the stars, question the sun making the day glorious with its bright beams, question the moon tempering the darkness of the following night with its shining rays, question the animals that move in the waters, that amble about on dry land, that fly in the air; their souls hidden, their bodies evident; the visible bodies needing to be controlled, the invisible souls controlling them. Question all these things. They all answer you, "Here we are, look; we're beautiful!' Their beauty is their confession. Who made these beautiful changeable things, if not one who is beautiful and unchangeable?" (Sermo CCXLI, 2: PL 38, 1134).

 

Dear brothers and sisters, may the Lord help us to rediscover the way of beauty as one of the itineraries, perhaps the most attractive and fascinating, on which to succeed in encountering and loving God.

 

 

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE PATRONS OF THE ARTS IN THE VATICAN MUSEUMS

Consistory Hall
Friday, September 28, 2018

 

Dear Friends,

 

I am pleased to welcome you on the occasion of your meeting in Rome, which this year coincides with the thirty-fifth anniversary of your Association’s foundation.

 

Your generosity over these years has contributed to the restoration of numerous art treasures held in the Vatican Museums. In this way you have continued a centuries-long tradition, imitating the achievements of those who contributed to the Church’s history through art. These works include the frescoes and sarcophagi in the catacombs, the great Romanesque and Gothic cathedrals, and the masterpieces of Michelangelo, Raphael, Bernini and Canova.

 

Throughout history, art has been second only to life in bearing witness to the Lord. It was, and remains, a majestic road allowing us more than by words and ideas to approach the faith, because it follows the same path of faith, that of beauty. The beauty of art enriches life and creates communion, because it unites God, man and creation in a single symphony. It connects the past, the present and the future, and it attracts – in the same place and with the same gaze – different and far-off peoples.

 

Celebrating your anniversary allows us to recall this history with gratitude, but it also enables us to renew our awareness of the important mission of preserving such a beautiful heritage that is so beneficial to men and women. Contemplating great art, which expresses the faith, helps us rediscover what truly matters in life. In leading us both within and above ourselves Christian art points us to the love that created us, to the mercy which saves us, and to the hope that awaits us.

 

In today’s troubled world, unfortunately so often torn and damaged by selfishness and the thirst for power, art represents, perhaps even more than in the past, a universal need because it is a source of harmony and peace, and it expresses the dimension of generosity. Thanking you warmly for the good that you do, I willingly impart my Blessing accompanied by my best wishes for peace, to you and your families. And please do not forget to pray for me. May the Lord bless you all!

 

LETTER OF HIS HOLINESS
POPE JOHN PAUL II
TO ARTISTS

1999

To all who are passionately dedicated
to the search for new “epiphanies” of beauty
so that through their creative work as artists
they may offer these as gifts to the world.

 

“God saw all that he had made, and it was very good” (Gn 1:31)

 

 

The artist, image of God the Creator

1. None can sense more deeply than you artists, ingenious creators of beauty that you are, something of the pathos with which God at the dawn of creation looked upon the work of his hands. A glimmer of that feeling has shone so often in your eyes when—like the artists of every age—captivated by the hidden power of sounds and words, colours and shapes, you have admired the work of your inspiration, sensing in it some echo of the mystery of creation with which God, the sole creator of all things, has wished in some way to associate you.

 

That is why it seems to me that there are no better words than the text of Genesis with which to begin my Letter to you, to whom I feel closely linked by experiences reaching far back in time and which have indelibly marked my life. In writing this Letter, I intend to follow the path of the fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists which has gone on unbroken through two thousand years of history, and which still, at the threshold of the Third Millennium, offers rich promise for the future.

 

In fact, this dialogue is not dictated merely by historical accident or practical need, but is rooted in the very essence of both religious experience and artistic creativity. The opening page of the Bible presents God as a kind of exemplar of everyone who produces a work: the human craftsman mirrors the image of God as Creator. This relationship is particularly clear in the Polish language because of the lexical link between the words stwórca (creator) and twórca (craftsman).

What is the difference between “creator” and “craftsman”? The one who creates bestows being itself, he brings something out of nothing—ex nihilo sui et subiecti, as the Latin puts it—and this, in the strict sense, is a mode of operation which belongs to the Almighty alone. The craftsman, by contrast, uses something that already exists, to which he gives form and meaning. This is the mode of operation peculiar to man as made in the image of God. In fact, after saying that God created man and woman “in his image” (cf. Gn 1:27), the Bible adds that he entrusted to them the task of dominating the earth (cf. Gn 1:28). This was the last day of creation (cf. Gn 1:28-31). On the previous days, marking as it were the rhythm of the birth of the cosmos, Yahweh had created the universe. Finally he created the human being, the noblest fruit of his design, to whom he subjected the visible world as a vast field in which human inventiveness might assert itself.

 

God therefore called man into existence, committing to him the craftsman's task. Through his “artistic creativity” man appears more than ever “in the image of God”, and he accomplishes this task above all in shaping the wondrous “material” of his own humanity and then exercising creative dominion over the universe which surrounds him. With loving regard, the divine Artist passes on to the human artist a spark of his own surpassing wisdom, calling him to share in his creative power. Obviously, this is a sharing which leaves intact the infinite distance between the Creator and the creature, as Cardinal Nicholas of Cusa made clear: “Creative art, which it is the soul's good fortune to entertain, is not to be identified with that essential art which is God himself, but is only a communication of it and a share in it”.(1)

 

That is why artists, the more conscious they are of their “gift”, are led all the more to see themselves and the whole of creation with eyes able to contemplate and give thanks, and to raise to God a hymn of praise. This is the only way for them to come to a full understanding of themselves, their vocation and their mission.

 

The special vocation of the artist

 

2. Not all are called to be artists in the specific sense of the term. Yet, as Genesis has it, all men and women are entrusted with the task of crafting their own life: in a certain sense, they are to make of it a work of art, a masterpiece. It is important to recognize the distinction, but also the connection, between these two aspects of human activity. The distinction is clear. It is one thing for human beings to be the authors of their own acts, with responsibility for their moral value; it is another to be an artist, able, that is, to respond to the demands of art and faithfully to accept art's specific dictates.(2) This is what makes the artist capable of producing objects, but it says nothing as yet of his moral character. We are speaking not of moulding oneself, of forming one's own personality, but simply of actualizing one's productive capacities, giving aesthetic form to ideas conceived in the mind.

 

The distinction between the moral and artistic aspects is fundamental, but no less important is the connection between them. Each conditions the other in a profound way. In producing a work, artists express themselves to the point where their work becomes a unique disclosure of their own being, of what they are and of how they are what they are. And there are endless examples of this in human history. In shaping a masterpiece, the artist not only summons his work into being, but also in some way reveals his own personality by means of it. For him art offers both a new dimension and an exceptional mode of expression for his spiritual growth. Through his works, the artist speaks to others and communicates with them. The history of art, therefore, is not only a story of works produced but also a story of men and women. Works of art speak of their authors; they enable us to know their inner life, and they reveal the original contribution which artists offer to the history of culture.

 

 

The artistic vocation in the service of beauty

 

3. A noted Polish poet, Cyprian Norwid, wrote that “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up”.(3) The theme of beauty is decisive for a discourse on art. It was already present when I stressed God's delighted gaze upon creation. In perceiving that all he had created was good, God saw that it was beautiful as well.(4) The link between good and beautiful stirs fruitful reflection. In a certain sense, beauty is the visible form of the good, just as the good is the metaphysical condition of beauty. This was well understood by the Greeks who, by fusing the two concepts, coined a term which embraces both: kalokagathía, or beauty-goodness. On this point Plato writes: “The power of the Good has taken refuge in the nature of the Beautiful”.(5)

 

It is in living and acting that man establishes his relationship with being, with the truth and with the good. The artist has a special relationship to beauty. In a very true sense it can be said that beauty is the vocation bestowed on him by the Creator in the gift of “artistic talent”. And, certainly, this too is a talent which ought to be made to bear fruit, in keeping with the sense of the Gospel parable of the talents (cf. Mt 25:14-30).

 

Here we touch on an essential point. Those who perceive in themselves this kind of divine spark which is the artistic vocation—as poet, writer, sculptor, architect, musician, actor and so on—feel at the same time the obligation not to waste this talent but to develop it, in order to put it at the service of their neighbour and of humanity as a whole.

 

The artist and the common good

 

4. Society needs artists, just as it needs scientists, technicians, workers, professional people, witnesses of the faith, teachers, fathers and mothers, who ensure the growth of the person and the development of the community by means of that supreme art form which is “the art of education”. Within the vast cultural panorama of each nation, artists have their unique place. Obedient to their inspiration in creating works both worthwhile and beautiful, they not only enrich the cultural heritage of each nation and of all humanity, but they also render an exceptional social service in favour of the common good.

 

The particular vocation of individual artists decides the arena in which they serve and points as well to the tasks they must assume, the hard work they must endure and the responsibility they must accept. Artists who are conscious of all this know too that they must labour without allowing themselves to be driven by the search for empty glory or the craving for cheap popularity, and still less by the calculation of some possible profit for themselves. There is therefore an ethic, even a “spirituality” of artistic service, which contributes in its way to the life and renewal of a people. It is precisely this to which Cyprian Norwid seems to allude in declaring that “beauty is to enthuse us for work, and work is to raise us up”.

 

Art and the mystery of the Word made flesh

 

5. The Law of the Old Testament explicitly forbids representation of the invisible and ineffable God by means of “graven or molten image” (Dt 27:15), because God transcends every material representation: “I am who I am” (Ex 3:14). Yet in the mystery of the Incarnation, the Son of God becomes visible in person: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son born of woman” (Gal 4:4). God became man in Jesus Christ, who thus becomes “the central point of reference for an understanding of the enigma of human existence, the created world and God himself”.(6)

 

This prime epiphany of “God who is Mystery” is both an encouragement and a challenge to Christians, also at the level of artistic creativity. From it has come a flowering of beauty which has drawn its sap precisely from the mystery of the Incarnation. In becoming man, the Son of God has introduced into human history all the evangelical wealth of the true and the good, and with this he has also unveiled a new dimension of beauty, of which the Gospel message is filled to the brim.

 

Sacred Scripture has thus become a sort of “immense vocabulary” (Paul Claudel) and “iconographic atlas” (Marc Chagall), from which both Christian culture and art have drawn. The Old Testament, read in the light of the New, has provided endless streams of inspiration. From the stories of the Creation and sin, the Flood, the cycle of the Patriarchs, the events of the Exodus to so many other episodes and characters in the history of salvation, the biblical text has fired the imagination of painters, poets, musicians, playwrights and film-makers. A figure like Job, to take but one example, with his searing and ever relevant question of suffering, still arouses an interest which is not just philosophical but literary and artistic as well. And what should we say of the New Testament? From the Nativity to Golgotha, from the Transfiguration to the Resurrection, from the miracles to the teachings of Christ, and on to the events recounted in the Acts of the Apostles or foreseen by the Apocalypse in an eschatological key, on countless occasions the biblical word has become image, music and poetry, evoking the mystery of “the Word made flesh” in the language of art.

 

In the history of human culture, all of this is a rich chapter of faith and beauty. Believers above all have gained from it in their experience of prayer and Christian living. Indeed for many of them, in times when few could read or write, representations of the Bible were a concrete mode of catechesis.(7) But for everyone, believers or not, the works of art inspired by Scripture remain a reflection of the unfathomable mystery which engulfs and inhabits the world.

 

A fruitful alliance between the Gospel and art

 

6. Every genuine artistic intuition goes beyond what the senses perceive and, reaching beneath reality's surface, strives to interpret its hidden mystery. The intuition itself springs from the depths of the human soul, where the desire to give meaning to one's own life is joined by the fleeting vision of beauty and of the mysterious unity of things. All artists experience the unbridgeable gap which lies between the work of their hands, however successful it may be, and the dazzling perfection of the beauty glimpsed in the ardour of the creative moment: what they manage to express in their painting, their sculpting, their creating is no more than a glimmer of the splendour which flared for a moment before the eyes of their spirit.

 

Believers find nothing strange in this: they know that they have had a momentary glimpse of the abyss of light which has its original wellspring in God. Is it in any way surprising that this leaves the spirit overwhelmed as it were, so that it can only stammer in reply? True artists above all are ready to acknowledge their limits and to make their own the words of the Apostle Paul, according to whom “God does not dwell in shrines made by human hands” so that “we ought not to think that the Deity is like gold or silver or stone, a representation by human art and imagination” (Acts 17:24, 29). If the intimate reality of things is always “beyond” the powers of human perception, how much more so is God in the depths of his unfathomable mystery!

 

The knowledge conferred by faith is of a different kind: it presupposes a personal encounter with God in Jesus Christ. Yet this knowledge too can be enriched by artistic intuition. An eloquent example of aesthetic contemplation sublimated in faith are, for example, the works of Fra Angelico. No less notable in this regard is the ecstatic lauda, which Saint Francis of Assisi twice repeats in the chartula which he composed after receiving the stigmata of Christ on the mountain of La Verna: “You are beauty... You are beauty!”.(8) Saint Bonaventure comments: “In things of beauty, he contemplated the One who is supremely beautiful, and, led by the footprints he found in creatures, he followed the Beloved everywhere”.(9)

 

A corresponding approach is found in Eastern spirituality where Christ is described as “the supremely Beautiful, possessed of a beauty above all the children of earth”.(10) Macarius the Great speaks of the transfiguring and liberating beauty of the Risen Lord in these terms: “The soul which has been fully illumined by the unspeakable beauty of the glory shining on the countenance of Christ overflows with the Holy Spirit... it is all eye, all light, all countenance”.(11)

 

Every genuine art form in its own way is a path to the inmost reality of man and of the world. It is therefore a wholly valid approach to the realm of faith, which gives human experience its ultimate meaning. That is why the Gospel fullness of truth was bound from the beginning to stir the interest of artists, who by their very nature are alert to every “epiphany” of the inner beauty of things.

 

The origins

 

7. The art which Christianity encountered in its early days was the ripe fruit of the classical world, articulating its aesthetic canons and embodying its values. Not only in their way of living and thinking, but also in the field of art, faith obliged Christians to a discernment which did not allow an uncritical acceptance of this heritage. Art of Christian inspiration began therefore in a minor key, strictly tied to the need for believers to contrive Scripture-based signs to express both the mysteries of faith and a “symbolic code” by which they could distinguish and identify themselves, especially in the difficult times of persecution. Who does not recall the symbols which marked the first appearance of an art both pictorial and plastic? The fish, the loaves, the shepherd: in evoking the mystery, they became almost imperceptibly the first traces of a new art.

 

When the Edict of Constantine allowed Christians to declare themselves in full freedom, art became a privileged means for the expression of faith. Majestic basilicas began to appear, and in them the architectural canons of the pagan world were reproduced and at the same time modified to meet the demands of the new form of worship. How can we fail to recall at least the old Saint Peter's Basilica and the Basilica of Saint John Lateran, both funded by Constantine himself? Or Constantinople's Hagia Sophia built by Justinian, with its splendours of Byzantine art?

 

While architecture designed the space for worship, gradually the need to contemplate the mystery and to present it explicitly to the simple people led to the early forms of painting and sculpture. There appeared as well the first elements of art in word and sound. Among the many themes treated by Augustine we find De Musica; and Hilary of Poitiers, Ambrose, Prudentius, Ephrem the Syrian, Gregory of Nazianzus and Paulinus of Nola, to mention but a few, promoted a Christian poetry which was often of high quality not just as theology but also as literature. Their poetic work valued forms inherited from the classical authors, but was nourished by the pure sap of the Gospel, as Paulinus of Nola put it succinctly: “Our only art is faith and our music Christ”.(12) A little later, Gregory the Great compiled the Antiphonarium and thus laid the ground for the organic development of that most original sacred music which takes its name from him. Gregorian chant, with its inspired modulations, was to become down the centuries the music of the Church's faith in the liturgical celebration of the sacred mysteries. The “beautiful” was thus wedded to the “true”, so that through art too souls might be lifted up from the world of the senses to the eternal.

Along this path there were troubled moments. Precisely on the issue of depicting the Christian mystery, there arose in the early centuries a bitter controversy known to history as “the iconoclast crisis”. Sacred images, which were already widely used in Christian devotion, became the object of violent contention. The Council held at Nicaea in 787, which decreed the legitimacy of images and their veneration, was a historic event not just for the faith but for culture itself. The decisive argument to which the Bishops appealed in order to settle the controversy was the mystery of the Incarnation: if the Son of God had come into the world of visible realities—his humanity building a bridge between the visible and the invisible— then, by analogy, a representation of the mystery could be used, within the logic of signs, as a sensory evocation of the mystery. The icon is venerated not for its own sake, but points beyond to the subject which it represents.(13)

 

The Middle Ages

 

8. The succeeding centuries saw a great development of Christian art. In the East, the art of the icon continued to flourish, obeying theological and aesthetic norms charged with meaning and sustained by the conviction that, in a sense, the icon is a sacrament. By analogy with what occurs in the sacraments, the icon makes present the mystery of the Incarnation in one or other of its aspects. That is why the beauty of the icon can be best appreciated in a church where in the shadows burning lamps stir infinite flickerings of light. As Pavel Florensky has written: “By the flat light of day, gold is crude, heavy, useless, but by the tremulous light of a lamp or candle it springs to life and glitters in sparks beyond counting—now here, now there, evoking the sense of other lights, not of this earth, which fill the space of heaven”.(14)

 

In the West, artists start from the most varied viewpoints, depending also on the underlying convictions of the cultural world of their time. The artistic heritage built up over the centuries includes a vast array of sacred works of great inspiration, which still today leave the observer full of admiration. In the first place, there are the great buildings for worship, in which the functional is always wedded to the creative impulse inspired by a sense of the beautiful and an intuition of the mystery. From here came the various styles well known in the history of art. The strength and simplicity of the Romanesque, expressed in cathedrals and abbeys, slowly evolved into the soaring splendours of the Gothic. These forms portray not only the genius of an artist but the soul of a people. In the play of light and shadow, in forms at times massive, at times delicate, structural considerations certainly come into play, but so too do the tensions peculiar to the experience of God, the mystery both “awesome” and “alluring”. How is one to summarize with a few brief references to each of the many different art forms, the creative power of the centuries of the Christian Middle Ages? An entire culture, albeit with the inescapable limits of all that is human, had become imbued with the Gospel; and where theology produced the Summa of Saint Thomas, church art moulded matter in a way which led to adoration of the mystery, and a wonderful poet like Dante Alighieri could compose “the sacred poem, to which both heaven and earth have turned their hand”,(15) as he himself described the Divine Comedy.

 

Humanism and the Renaissance

 

9. The favourable cultural climate that produced the extraordinary artistic flowering of Humanism and the Renaissance also had a significant impact on the way in which the artists of the period approached the religious theme. Naturally, their inspiration, like their style, varied greatly, at least among the best of them. But I do not intend to repeat things which you, as artists, know well. Writing from this Apostolic Palace, which is a mine of masterpieces perhaps unique in the world, I would rather give voice to the supreme artists who in this place lavished the wealth of their genius, often charged with great spiritual depth. From here can be heard the voice of Michelangelo who in the Sistine Chapel has presented the drama and mystery of the world from the Creation to the Last Judgement, giving a face to God the Father, to Christ the Judge, and to man on his arduous journey from the dawn to the consummation of history. Here speaks the delicate and profound genius of Raphael, highlighting in the array of his paintings, and especially in the “Dispute” in the Room of the Signatura, the mystery of the revelation of the Triune God, who in the Eucharist befriends man and sheds light on the questions and expectations of human intelligence. From this place, from the majestic Basilica dedicated to the Prince of the Apostles, from the Colonnade which spreads out from it like two arms open to welcome the whole human family, we still hear Bramante, Bernini, Borromini, Maderno, to name only the more important artists, all rendering visible the perception of the mystery which makes of the Church a universally hospitable community, mother and travelling companion to all men and women in their search for God.

 

This extraordinary complex is a remarkably powerful expression of sacred art, rising to heights of imperishable aesthetic and religious excellence. What has characterized sacred art more and more, under the impulse of Humanism and the Renaissance, and then of successive cultural and scientific trends, is a growing interest in everything human, in the world, and in the reality of history. In itself, such a concern is not at all a danger for Christian faith, centred on the mystery of the Incarnation and therefore on God's valuing of the human being. The great artists mentioned above are a demonstration of this. Suffice it to think of the way in which Michelangelo represents the beauty of the human body in his painting and sculpture.(16)

 

Even in the changed climate of more recent centuries, when a part of society seems to have become indifferent to faith, religious art has continued on its way. This can be more widely appreciated if we look beyond the figurative arts to the great development of sacred music through this same period, either composed for the liturgy or simply treating religious themes. Apart from the many artists who made sacred music their chief concern—how can we forget Pier Luigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso, Tomás Luis de Victoria?—it is also true that many of the great composers—from Handel to Bach, from Mozart to Schubert, from Beethoven to Berlioz, from Liszt to Verdi—have given us works of the highest inspiration in this field.

 

Towards a renewed dialogue

 

10. It is true nevertheless that, in the modern era, alongside this Christian humanism which has continued to produce important works of culture and art, another kind of humanism, marked by the absence of God and often by opposition to God, has gradually asserted itself. Such an atmosphere has sometimes led to a separation of the world of art and the world of faith, at least in the sense that many artists have a diminished interest in religious themes.

 

You know, however, that the Church has not ceased to nurture great appreciation for the value of art as such. Even beyond its typically religious expressions, true art has a close affinity with the world of faith, so that, even in situations where culture and the Church are far apart, art remains a kind of bridge to religious experience. In so far as it seeks the beautiful, fruit of an imagination which rises above the everyday, art is by its nature a kind of appeal to the mystery. Even when they explore the darkest depths of the soul or the most unsettling aspects of evil, artists give voice in a way to the universal desire for redemption.

 

It is clear, therefore, why the Church is especially concerned for the dialogue with art and is keen that in our own time there be a new alliance with artists, as called for by my revered predecessor Paul VI in his vibrant speech to artists during a special meeting he had with them in the Sistine Chapel on 7 May 1964.(17) From such cooperation the Church hopes for a renewed “epiphany” of beauty in our time and apt responses to the particular needs of the Christian community.

 

In the spirit of the Second Vatican Council

 

11. The Second Vatican Council laid the foundation for a renewed relationship between the Church and culture, with immediate implications for the world of art. This is a relationship offered in friendship, openness and dialogue. In the Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, the Fathers of the Council stressed “the great importance” of literature and the arts in human life: “They seek to probe the true nature of man, his problems and experiences, as he strives to know and perfect himself and the world, to discover his place in history and the universe, to portray his miseries and joys, his needs and strengths, with a view to a better future”.(18)

 

On this basis, at the end of the Council the Fathers addressed a greeting and an appeal to artists: “This world—they said—in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. Beauty, like truth, brings joy to the human heart and is that precious fruit which resists the erosion of time, which unites generations and enables them to be one in admiration!”.(19) In this spirit of profound respect for beauty, the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy Sacrosanctum Concilium recalled the historic friendliness of the Church towards art and, referring more specifically to sacred art, the “summit” of religious art, did not hesitate to consider artists as having “a noble ministry” when their works reflect in some way the infinite beauty of God and raise people's minds to him.(20) Thanks also to the help of artists “the knowledge of God can be better revealed and the preaching of the Gospel can become clearer to the human mind”.(21) In this light, it comes as no surprise when Father Marie Dominique Chenu claims that the work of the historian of theology would be incomplete if he failed to give due attention to works of art, both literary and figurative, which are in their own way “not only aesthetic representations, but genuine 'sources' of theology”.(22)

 

The Church needs art

 

12. In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable. Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colours, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look or listen. It does so without emptying the message itself of its transcendent value and its aura of mystery.

 

The Church has need especially of those who can do this on the literary and figurative level, using the endless possibilities of images and their symbolic force. Christ himself made extensive use of images in his preaching, fully in keeping with his willingness to become, in the Incarnation, the icon of the unseen God.

 

The Church also needs musicians. How many sacred works have been composed through the centuries by people deeply imbued with the sense of the mystery! The faith of countless believers has been nourished by melodies flowing from the hearts of other believers, either introduced into the liturgy or used as an aid to dignified worship. In song, faith is experienced as vibrant joy, love, and confident expectation of the saving intervention of God.

 

The Church needs architects, because she needs spaces to bring the Christian people together and celebrate the mysteries of salvation. After the terrible destruction of the last World War and the growth of great cities, a new generation of architects showed themselves adept at responding to the exigencies of Christian worship, confirming that the religious theme can still inspire architectural design in our own day. Not infrequently these architects have constructed churches which are both places of prayer and true works of art.

 

Does art need the Church?

 

13. The Church therefore needs art. But can it also be said that art needs the Church? The question may seem like a provocation. Yet, rightly understood, it is both legitimate and profound. Artists are constantly in search of the hidden meaning of things, and their torment is to succeed in expressing the world of the ineffable. How then can we fail to see what a great source of inspiration is offered by that kind of homeland of the soul that is religion? Is it not perhaps within the realm of religion that the most vital personal questions are posed, and answers both concrete and definitive are sought?

 

In fact, the religious theme has been among those most frequently treated by artists in every age. The Church has always appealed to their creative powers in interpreting the Gospel message and discerning its precise application in the life of the Christian community. This partnership has been a source of mutual spiritual enrichment. Ultimately, it has been a great boon for an understanding of man, of the authentic image and truth of the person. The special bond between art and Christian revelation has also become evident. This does not mean that human genius has not found inspiration in other religious contexts. It is enough to recall the art of the ancient world, especially Greek and Roman art, or the art which still flourishes in the very ancient civilizations of the East. It remains true, however, that because of its central doctrine of the Incarnation of the Word of God, Christianity offers artists a horizon especially rich in inspiration. What an impoverishment it would be for art to abandon the inexhaustible mine of the Gospel!

 

 

An appeal to artists

 

14. With this Letter, I turn to you, the artists of the world, to assure you of my esteem and to help consolidate a more constructive partnership between art and the Church. Mine is an invitation to rediscover the depth of the spiritual and religious dimension which has been typical of art in its noblest forms in every age. It is with this in mind that I appeal to you, artists of the written and spoken word, of the theatre and music, of the plastic arts and the most recent technologies in the field of communication. I appeal especially to you, Christian artists: I wish to remind each of you that, beyond functional considerations, the close alliance that has always existed between the Gospel and art means that you are invited to use your creative intuition to enter into the heart of the mystery of the Incarnate God and at the same time into the mystery of man.

 

Human beings, in a certain sense, are unknown to themselves. Jesus Christ not only reveals God, but “fully reveals man to man”.(23) In Christ, God has reconciled the world to himself. All believers are called to bear witness to this; but it is up to you, men and women who have given your lives to art, to declare with all the wealth of your ingenuity that in Christ the world is redeemed: the human person is redeemed, the human body is redeemed, and the whole creation which, according to Saint Paul, “awaits impatiently the revelation of the children of God” (Rom 8:19), is redeemed. The creation awaits the revelation of the children of God also through art and in art. This is your task. Humanity in every age, and even today, looks to works of art to shed light upon its path and its destiny.

 

 

The Creator Spirit and artistic inspiration

 

15. Often in the Church there resounds the invocation to the Holy Spirit: Veni, Creator Spiritus... – “Come, O Creator Spirit, visit our minds, fill with your grace the hearts you have created”.(24)

The Holy Spirit, “the Breath” (ruah), is the One referred to already in the Book of Genesis: “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters” (1:2). What affinity between the words “breath - breathing” and “inspiration”! The Spirit is the mysterious Artist of the universe. Looking to the Third Millennium, I would hope that all artists might receive in abundance the gift of that creative inspiration which is the starting-point of every true work of art.

 

Dear artists, you well know that there are many impulses which, either from within or from without, can inspire your talent. Every genuine inspiration, however, contains some tremor of that “breath” with which the Creator Spirit suffused the work of creation from the very beginning. Overseeing the mysterious laws governing the universe, the divine breath of the Creator Spirit reaches out to human genius and stirs its creative power. He touches it with a kind of inner illumination which brings together the sense of the good and the beautiful, and he awakens energies of mind and heart which enable it to conceive an idea and give it form in a work of art. It is right then to speak, even if only analogically, of “moments of grace”, because the human being is able to experience in some way the Absolute who is utterly beyond.

 

The “Beauty” that saves

 

16. On the threshold of the Third Millennium, my hope for all of you who are artists is that you will have an especially intense experience of creative inspiration. May the beauty which you pass on to generations still to come be such that it will stir them to wonder! Faced with the sacredness of life and of the human person, and before the marvels of the universe, wonder is the only appropriate attitude.

From this wonder there can come that enthusiasm of which Norwid spoke in the poem to which I referred earlier. People of today and tomorrow need this enthusiasm if they are to meet and master the crucial challenges which stand before us. Thanks to this enthusiasm, humanity, every time it loses its way, will be able to lift itself up and set out again on the right path. In this sense it has been said with profound insight that “beauty will save the world”.(25)

 

Beauty is a key to the mystery and a call to transcendence. It is an invitation to savour life and to dream of the future. That is why the beauty of created things can never fully satisfy. It stirs that hidden nostalgia for God which a lover of beauty like Saint Augustine could express in incomparable terms: “Late have I loved you, beauty so old and so new: late have I loved you!”.(26)

 

Artists of the world, may your many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy. May you be guided and inspired by the mystery of the Risen Christ, whom the Church in these days contemplates with joy. May the Blessed Virgin Mary be with you always: she is the “tota pulchra” portrayed by countless artists, whom Dante contemplates among the splendours of Paradise as “beauty that was joy in the eyes of all the other saints”.(27) “From chaos there rises the world of the spirit”. These words of Adam Mickiewicz, written at a time of great hardship for his Polish homeland,(28) prompt my hope for you: may your art help to affirm that true beauty which, as a glimmer of the Spirit of God, will transfigure matter, opening the human soul to the sense of the eternal.

 

With my heartfelt good wishes!

From the Vatican, April, 4, 1999, Easter Sunday.

 

 

(1) Dialogus de Ludo Globi, lib. II: Philosophisch-Theologische Schriften, Vienna 1967, III, p. 332.

(2) The moral virtues, and among them prudence in particular, allow the subject to act in harmony with the criterion of moral good and evil: according to recta ratio agibilium (the right criterion of action). Art, however, is defined by philosophy as recta ratio factibilium (the right criterion of production).

(3) Promethidion, Bogumil, vv. 185-186: Pisma wybrane, Warsaw 1968, vol. 2, p. 216.

(4) The Greek translation of the Septuagint expresses this well in rendering the Hebrew term t(o-)b (good) as kalón (beautiful).

(5) Philebus, 65 A.

(6) JOHN PAUL II, Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio (14 September 1998), 80: AAS 91 (1999), 67.

(7) This pedagogical principle was given authoritative formulation by Saint Gregory the Great in a letter of 599 to Serenus, Bishop of Marseilles: “Painting is employed in churches so that those who cannot read or write may at least read on the walls what they cannot decipher on the page”, Epistulae, IX, 209: CCL 140A, 1714.

(8) Lodi di Dio Altissimo, vv. 7 and 10: Fonti Francescane, No. 261, Padua 1982, p. 177.

(9) Legenda Maior, IX, 1: Fonti Francesane, No. 1162, loc. cit., p. 911.

(10) Enkomia of the Orthós of the Holy and Great Saturday.

(11) Homily I, 2: PG 34, 451.

(12) “At nobis ars una fides et musica Christus”: Carmen 20, 31: CCL 203, 144.

(13) Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Apostolic Letter Duodecimum Saeculum (4 December 1987), 8-9: AAS 80 (1988), pp. 247-249.

(14) La prospettiva rovesciata ed altri scritti, Rome 1984, p. 63.

(15) Paradiso XXV, 1-2.

(16) Cf. JOHN PAUL II, Homily at the Mass for the Conclusion of the Restoration of Michelangelo's Frescoes in the Sistine Chapel, 8 April 1994: Insegnamenti, XVII, 1 (1994), 899-904.

(17) Cf. AAS 56 (1964), 438-444.

(18) No. 62.

(19) Message to Artists, 8 December 1965: AAS 58 (1966), 13.

(20) Cf. No. 122.

(21) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution Gaudium et Spes, 62.

(22) La teologia nel XII secolo, Milan 1992, p. 9.

(23) SECOND VATICAN ECUMENICAL COUNCIL, Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World Gaudium et Spes, 22.

(24) Hymn at Vespers on Pentecost.

(25) F. DOSTOYEVSKY, The Idiot, Part III, chap. 5.

(26) Sero te amavi! Pulchritudo tam antiqua et tam nova, sero te amavi!: Confessions, 10, 27: CCL 27, 251.

(27) Paradiso XXXI, 134-135.

(28) Oda do mlodosci, v. 69: Wybór poezji, Wroclaw 1986, vol. 1, p. 63.

 

‘ARTISTS’ MASS’ IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL
HOMILY BY PAUL VI
Solemnity of the Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 7, 1964

 

Dear Gentlemen, and even dearer children!

Before we begin this brief conversation, we would like to put your minds at ease regarding any apprehension or unease that might easily overcome anyone finding themselves in the Sistine Chapel on an occasion such as this. Is there perhaps any place that provokes more thought and trepidation, that inspires greater timidity and at the same time stirs the soul’s feelings more deeply? Well, it is precisely you, artists, who must be the first to cast aside that instinctive hesitation which arises upon entering this sanctuary of history, art, religion, human destinies, memories and omens. Why? Because it is, if anything, a sanctuary for artists, created by artists. And so, at this very moment, you should allow the vast surge of emotions, memories and exultation – which a temple such as this can stir within the soul – to flow freely into your spirits.

 

There may be another source of unease, almost another form of paralysing shyness; and it is one that may be caused not so much by Our humble person as by Our official presence, Our papal ministry: ‘Here is the Pope!’, you are no doubt thinking. Have artists ever come to see the Pope before? This may well be the first time it has happened. Or rather, they have been coming for centuries; they have always had a relationship with the Head of the Catholic Church, but through different channels. One might even say that the thread of this relationship, of this connection, has been lost. And now you are here, all together, in a religious moment, entirely for your sake, not as people standing in the wings, but truly taking centre stage in a spiritual conversation, in a sacred celebration. And it is natural, if one is sensitive and understanding, that there should be a certain reverence, a certain respect, a certain desire to understand and to remain silent. Well, even this sensitivity, were it at this moment to restrain your inner expressions of free feelings, We would wish to dispel it; for, whilst the Pope must welcome everyone – for he is the Father of all, and has a ministry for all, and a word for all – he has this word in store especially for you; and he is eager, and delighted, to be able to express it today, for the Pope is your friend.

 

 

 

And this is not merely because a tradition of sumptuousness, patronage, grandeur and splendour surrounds his ministry, his authority and his relationship with mankind, and because he needs this decorative and expressive setting to tell those who do not know who he is, and how Christ intended him to be amongst mankind. But it is so for more intrinsic reasons, which are, in fact, those that occupy us today and concern our spirit, namely: these are the reasons for Our ministry that lead Us to seek you out. Must We utter the great words which, after all, you already know? We need you. Our ministry needs your collaboration. For, as you know, Our ministry is to preach and to make the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of the ineffable, of God, accessible, comprehensible—indeed, moving. And in this task, which translates the invisible world into accessible, intelligible forms, you are masters. It is your profession, your mission; and your art lies precisely in drawing the treasures of the spiritual realm from the heavens and clothing them in words, colours, forms and accessibility. And not merely the sort of accessibility offered by a teacher of logic or mathematics, who does indeed make comprehensible the treasures of a world inaccessible to the cognitive faculties of the senses and to our immediate perception of things. You, too, have this privilege, in the very act of making the spiritual world accessible and comprehensible: to preserve for that world its ineffability, the sense of its transcendence, its aura of mystery, and this need to reach it through both ease and effort at the same time.

 

 

This – those in the know call it ‘Einfuhlung’, sensitivity, that is, the ability to perceive, through feeling, what one would be unable to understand or express through thought alone – this is what you do! Now, in this way of yours, in this ability of yours to translate into the realm of our knowledge – and indeed into that which is easy and joyful, that is to say, the perceptible, namely that which is grasped and discerned through intuitive vision alone – we repeat, you are masters. And if we were to lack your assistance, the ministry would become faltering and uncertain and would need to make an effort, so to speak, to become artistic in its own right, indeed to become prophetic. To rise to the power of the lyrical expression of intuitive beauty, it would need to bring the priesthood into harmony with art.

 

 

Now, if this is the case, the discussion ought to be serious and solemn. The venue, and perhaps even the occasion, would lend themselves to this; not so much the time allotted to us, nor the programme we have set for this first friendly meeting. Who knows whether there might not come a time when we can say more. But the issue is this: we must re-establish friendship between the Church and artists. It is not, in truth, that this friendship has ever been broken; and this very gathering proves it, for it is already evidence of that friendship in action. And then there are many other examples that can be cited as proof of continuity and of the faithfulness of these relationships, which bear witness to the fact that the friendship between the Church and artists has never been broken. Not least because, as we were saying, the Church needs this; and we might even go further, reading your hearts. You yourselves are seeking this world of the ineffable and find that its home, its address, its best source of nourishment is still Religion.

 

 

So we have always been friends. But, as happens between relatives, as happens between friends, things have gone a little sour. We haven’t fallen out, but we have strained our friendship. May we speak frankly? You have abandoned us a little; you have drifted away, drinking from other fountains, in the – albeit legitimate – quest to express other things; but no longer ours. We have other observations to make, but we do not wish to upset you or be discourteous this morning. You know that we carry a certain wound in our hearts when we see you engaged in certain artistic expressions that offend us, the guardians of all humanity, of the complete definition of man, of his well-being, of his stability. You detach art from life, and so… But there is more to it than that. Sometimes you forget the fundamental principle of your dedication to expression; no one knows what you are saying, and often you yourselves do not know either: the result is a language of Babel, of confusion. And so where is the art? Art should be intuition, it should be ease, it should be happiness. You do not always give us this ease, this happiness, and so we remain surprised, intimidated and detached.

 

But to be frank and forthright – as you can see, we are merely touching on this – we acknowledge that we, too, have caused you a fair bit of trouble. We have caused you trouble because we imposed imitation as the first rule upon you – you who are creators, always lively, brimming with a thousand ideas and a thousand innovations. ‘We,’ we told you, ‘have this style; you must adapt to it; we have this tradition, and you must remain faithful to it; we have these masters, and you must follow them; we have these rules, and there is no way out.’ We have, at times, placed a leaden cloak upon you, we can admit; forgive us! And then we, too, have abandoned you. We have not explained our ways to you; we have not introduced you to the secret chamber where the mysteries of God make the human heart leap with joy, hope, gladness and ecstasy. We have not had you as pupils, friends or companions in conversation;

that is why you did not get to know us.

 

And so your language, as applied to our world, was docile, yes, but almost constrained, stilted, unable to find its own free voice. And we felt, at that time, the dissatisfaction with this artistic expression. And – we shall make a full confession this morning, at least here – we treated you even worse; we resorted to substitutes, to ‘oleography’, to works of art of little merit and low cost, partly because, in our defence, we lacked the means to create great things, beautiful things, new things, things worthy of admiration; and we too have strayed down side streets, where art and beauty and – what is worse for us – the worship of God have been poorly served.

Shall we make peace again? Today? Here? Do we want to be friends once more? Will the Pope once again become the artists’ friend? Do you want some suggestions, some practical means? But these are not part of the equation right now. Let us focus on our feelings for now. We must become allies once more. We must ask of you all the gifts the Lord has bestowed upon you, and so, within the realm of function and purpose—which unite art with the worship of God—we must allow your voices to sing freely and powerfully, as only you are capable of doing. And you must be skilful enough to interpret what you are to express, to draw from us the motif, the theme, and sometimes more than the theme—that secret fluid called inspiration, called grace, called the charisma of art. And, God willing, we shall give it to you. But as we were saying, this is not the time for long speeches or for making definitive proclamations.

However, for our part – we, the Pope, we, the Church – have already signed a major act of the new covenant with the artist. The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy, which the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council was the first to issue and promulgate, contains a passage – which I hope you are familiar with – that is, in fact, the pact of reconciliation and rebirth of religious art within the Catholic Church. I repeat, our pact has been signed. It awaits your countersignature. For the time being, therefore, we shall confine ourselves to some very simple observations, which, however, will not displease you.

 

The first is this: that we welcome this Mass composed by the artist, and we thank Monsignor Francia for it; him and all those who have followed in his footsteps and adopted his formula. We have witnessed the birth of this initiative; we saw it first welcomed by Our venerable Predecessor, Pope Pius XII, who began to pave the way for it and to give it a place within ecclesiastical life and in the Church’s prayer; and therefore We congratulate those involved on what has been achieved in this vein, which is not the only one, but which is good and worth following: We bless it and encourage it. We would like you to convey to all your colleagues, imitators and followers Our Blessing for this experiment in religious and artistic life, which has once again demonstrated that there is a deep affinity and a marvellous capacity for understanding between the priest and the artist.

 

The second point is this: it is very well known, but we feel it must be reiterated at this time; and that is that, if the artistic moment that arises in a sacred religious ceremony – such as a Mass – is to be complete, authentic and generous, and is truly to fill and stir the souls of those taking part and those gathered round, it also requires two things: catechesis and a workshop.

 

We shall not dwell here on whether art arises spontaneously and suddenly, like a flash of divine inspiration, or whether – as you tell us – it requires a gruelling, arduous, ascetic, slow and gradual process of training. Well then, if we wish to give – let us repeat – authenticity and fulfilment to the religious artistic moment, to the Mass, its preparation and catechesis are essential; in other words, it must be underpinned by, or accompanied by, religious instruction. It is not permissible to invent a religion; one must know what has taken place between God and humankind, how God has established certain religious relationships which one must understand so as not to become ridiculous, stammering or aberrant. One must be educated. And we believe that, within the context of the artist’s Mass, those who wish to present themselves as true artists will have no difficulty in embracing this systematic, patient, yet highly beneficial and nourishing education. And then there is the need for the workshop—that is, the technique required to do things properly. And here we leave the floor to you to say what is necessary, so that the artistic expression given to these religious moments may possess the full richness of its expressiveness in terms of styles and instruments, and, if required, even innovation.

 

And finally, we would add that neither catechesis nor workshops are enough. What is needed is the indispensable quality of the religious moment, namely sincerity. It is no longer merely a matter of art, but of spirituality. One must enter the innermost chamber of one’s being and imbue the religious moment—experienced artistically—with what is expressed here: a personality, a voice drawn from the very depths of the soul, a form that stands apart from any pretence of the stage, a purely outward performance; it is the ‘I’ found in its fullest and most arduous synthesis, if you will, but also its most joyful. Here, religion must be truly spiritual; and then what today’s feast, the Ascension, leads us to reflect upon will come to pass for you. When we turn inwards to find all these energies and make the ascent to heaven—that heaven where Christ has taken refuge—we feel, at first, immensely, I would say, infinitely far away.

 

The transcendence that so frightens modern man is truly something that infinitely surpasses him, and anyone who does not sense this distance does not experience true religion. Anyone who does not perceive this superiority of God, His ineffability, His mystery, does not experience the authenticity of the religious reality. But those who do perceive it experience, almost immediately, that this distant God is already there: ‘You would not seek Him if you had not already found Him’. These are Pascal’s words, it is true; and this is what happens continually in the authentic spiritual life of the Christian. If we truly seek Christ where He is, in heaven, we see Him reflected, we find Him beating within our soul: the transcendent God has, in a certain sense, become immanent; He has become our inner friend, our spiritual guide. And communion with Him, which seemed impossible, as if one had to cross infinite abysses, is already complete; the Lord enters into communion with us in the ways, as you well know, of the Word, of grace, of the sacraments, and of the treasures which the Church dispenses to faithful souls. And let that suffice for now.

 

Dearest artists, let’s just say one word then: goodbye!

 

 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV
TO THE ARTISTS AND CURATORS PARTICIPATING IN
“THE ART OF POSSIBILITY: WEAVING TOGETHER” MEETING
ORGANIZED BY THE DICASTERY FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION

Consistory Hall
Friday, October, 2, 2026

 

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome!
Your Eminence,
Your Excellencies,
Dear brothers and sisters,

 

The first words I would like to say to you are “thank you.” Thank you for the collaboration you have offered the Holy See in recent years, particularly for the installation of the Venice Biennale Pavilion and for the contemporary art projects promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education. Thank you for the trust with which you have agreed to walk alongside the Church, also along new paths.

 

I think, for example, of the Pavilion set up in the women’s prison on the island of Giudecca, which Pope Francis visited. Anyone who has been there knows that it was not a matter of bringing art into prison, but of allowing the prisoners to teach something about art and to us.  For the “human person is ‘worthy’ simply by virtue of existing and of being destined for eternity” (Address at the Accueil Notre-Dame, Lourdes, 27 September 2026) and is always greater than his or her fragility and mistakes.

 

I was also struck by the motto, inspired by Saint Hildegard of Bingen, of this year’s Venetian Pavilion: “The Ear is the Eye of the Soul.” Indeed, like an antenna, art is receptive to the great questions of the human heart — sometimes like a cry, more often like a whisper — and makes them audible, visible and shareable.

 

Saint Augustine left us an immortal testimony to the restlessness of the human heart in search of truth.  Art, when it is authentic, is also animated by this restlessness. For this reason, the Church has never considered art to be merely decorative. Instead, for the Church, art nurtures the fundamental posture of listening, through which we can learn about humanity’s aspirations and wounds, our thirst for beauty, justice and peace, and our search for meaning.

 

We live in the age of search engines that offer us thousands of instantaneous answers. Yet, no matter how powerful they may be, they merely return what already exists and tend to give us what we already want. In the age of technology and consumerism, the great danger is not only censorship but also homogenization, and not merely imposed silence but the noise that makes it impossible to listen. Art is a different kind of “search engine.” It does not proceed by indexing but by inquiry. Indeed, its inquiry is a focused attention that is not satisfied with the mere sum of facts, for it never ceases to dig deeper, seeking the thread that unites them. Your art, when it resists homogenization, when it draws our gaze, when it compels us to pause before that which cannot be consumed, is a form of cultural and spiritual regeneration.

 

Pope Saint Paul VI spoke words that remain a landmark for the Church’s relationship with artists: “We need you,” he said. “Our ministry needs your collaboration.  For, as you know, our ministry is to preach and to make the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of the ineffable, of God, accessible and understandable — indeed, inspiring.  And in this task, which translates the invisible world into accessible, intelligible forms, you are masters” (Homily at the Mass with Artists, 7 May 1964).

 

For my part, I also say to you today: the Church needs you. This is especially true in this age of artificial intelligence, in which we urgently need to distinguish human art from what is produced by machines. There is an ontological difference — even before an aesthetic one — between art and what a machine can generate through statistical calculation based on millions of images created by others. Algorithms lack the spark of the human, whereas “authentic culture and art preserve this spark” (Encyclical Letter Magnifica Humanitas, 122).

 

For all these reasons, the Church wishes to renew an alliance with artists and cultural institutions; an alliance for safeguarding what is human.  As I had the opportunity to say during my recent visit to UNESCO, “Promoting education, science and culture is impossible without at the same time improving the lives of men and women who are engaged in these activities” (Address to UNESCO, Paris, 25 September 2026).

 

Dear artists, dear curators, know that the Church looks upon you with esteem, gratitude and hope; that she needs you, and that she wishes to walk alongside you, so that together we may safeguard the grandeur of humanity entrusted to us.  May God bless all of you and your work! Thank you.

 

HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

GENERAL AUDIENCE

Castel Gandolfo
Wednesday, August 31, 2011

 

Art and Prayer

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

 

In this period I have recalled several times the need for every Christian, in the midst of the many occupations that fill our days, to find time for God and for prayer. The Lord himself gives us many opportunities to remember him. Today I would like to reflect briefly on one of these channels that can lead to God and can also be of help in the encounter with him. It is the way of artistic expression, part of that “via pulchritudinis” — the “way of beauty”, of which I have spoken several times and whose deepest meaning must be recovered by men and women today.

 

It may have happened on some occasion that you paused before a sculpture, a picture, a few verses of a poem or a piece of music that you found deeply moving, that gave you a sense of joy, a clear perception, that is, that what you beheld was not only matter, a piece of marble or bronze, a painted canvas, a collection of letters or an accumulation of sounds, but something greater, something that “speaks”, that can touch the heart, communicate a message, uplift the mind.

 

A work of art is a product of the creative capacity of the human being who in questioning visible reality, seeks to discover its deep meaning and to communicate it through the language of forms, colour and sound. Art is able to manifest and make visible the human need to surpass the visible, it expresses the thirst and the quest for the infinite.

 

Indeed it resembles a door open on to the infinite, on to a beauty and a truth that go beyond the daily routine. And a work of art can open the eyes of the mind and of the heart, impelling us upward.

However some artistic expressions are real highways to God, the supreme Beauty; indeed, they help us to grow in our relationship with him, in prayer. These are works that were born from faith and express faith. We can see an example of this when we visit a Gothic cathedral: we are enraptured by the vertical lines that soar skywards and uplift our gaze and our spirit, while at the same time we feel small yet long for fullness.…

Or when we enter a Romanesque church we are spontaneously prompted to meditate and to pray. We perceive that these splendid buildings contain, as it were, the faith of generations. Or when we listen to a piece of sacred music that plucks at our heartstrings, our mind, as it were, expands and turns naturally to God.

 

I remember a concert of music by Johann Sebastian Bach in Munich, conducted by Leonard Bernstein. At the end of the last passage, one of the Cantatas, I felt, not by reasoning but in the depths of my heart, that what I had heard had communicated truth to me, the truth of the supreme composer, and impelled me to thank God. The Lutheran bishop of Munich was next to me and I said to him spontaneously: “in hearing this one understands: it is true; such strong faith is true, as well as the beauty that irresistibly expresses the presence of God’s truth”.

 

Yet how many pictures or frescos, fruits of the artist’s faith, in their form, in their colour, in their light, urge us to think of God and foster within us the desire to draw from the source of all beauty. What Marc Chagall, a great artist, wrote, remains profoundly true: that for centuries painters have dipped their paintbrush in that coloured alphabet which is the Bible. Thus how often artistic expression can bring us to remember God, to help us to pray or even to convert our heart!

 

Paul Claudel, a famous French poet, playwright and diplomat, precisely while he was listening in the Cathedral of Notre Dame to the singing of the Magnificat during Christmas Mass in 1886, had a tangible experience of God’s presence. He had not entered the church for reasons of faith but rather in order to seek arguments against Christians and instead God's grace worked actively in his heart.

 

Dear friends, I ask you to rediscover the importance of this path also for prayer, for our living relationship with God. Towns and villages throughout the world contain treasures of art that express faith and beckon to us to return to our relationship with God. May the visits to places filled with art, then, not only be opportunities for cultural enrichment — that too — but may they become above all moments of grace, incentives to strengthen our bond and our dialogue with the Lord so that — in switching from simple external reality to the more profound reality it expresses — we may pause to contemplate the ray of beauty that strikes us to the quick, that almost “wounds” us, and that invites us to rise toward God.

 

I end with a prayer from a Psalm, Psalm 27[26]: “One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and contemplate his temple” (v. 4).

 

Let us hope that the Lord will help us to contemplate his beauty, both in nature and in works of art, so that we, moved by the light that shines from his face, may be a light for our neighbour. Many thanks.

 

ADDRESS OF POPE PAUL VI
TO ARTISTS

December 8, 1965

 

We now address you, artists, who are taken up with beauty and work for it: poets and literary men, painters, sculptors, architects, musicians, men devoted to the theater and the cinema. To all of you, the Church of the council declares to you through our voice: if you are friends of genuine art, you are our friends.

 

The Church has long since joined in alliance with you. You have built and adorned her temples, celebrated her dogmas, enriched her liturgy. You have aided her in translating her divine message in the language of forms and figures, making the invisible world palpable. Today, as yesterday, the Church needs you and turns to you. She tells you through our voice: Do not allow an alliance as fruitful as this to be broken. Do not refuse to put your talents at the service of divine truth. Do not close your mind to the breath of the Holy Spirit.

 

This world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair. It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man and is that precious fruit which resists the wear and tear of time, which unites generations and makes them share things in admiration. And all of this is through your hands. May these hands be pure and disinterested. Remember that you are the guardians of beauty in the world. May that suffice to free you from tastes which are passing and have no genuine value, to free you from the search after strange or unbecoming expressions. Be always and everywhere worthy of your ideals and you will be worthy of the Church which, by our voice, addresses to you today her message of friendship, salvation, grace and benediction.

 

DISCURSO DEL SANTO PADRE FRANCISCO
A LOS PARTICIPANTES EN EL ENCUENTRO DE ARTISTAS
CON MOTIVO DEL 50 ANIVERSARIO DE LA INAUGURACIÓN DE LA

COLECCIÓN DE ARTE RELIGIOSO MODERNO DE LOS MUSEOS VATICANOS

 

Capilla Sixtina 
Viernes, 23 de junio de 2023

________________________________________

 

¡Buenos días, bienvenidos! ¡Aquí todo es arte, ahí [señala los frescos], vosotros, todos! ¡Bienvenidos!

 

Os doy las gracias por haber acogido mi invitación. Vuestra presencia me alegra, porque la Iglesia siempre ha tenido una relación con los artistas que se puede definir al mismo tiempo natural y especial. Se trata de una amistad natural, porque el artista toma en serio la profundidad inagotable de la existencia, de la vida y del mundo, también en sus contradicciones y en sus lados trágicos. Esta profundidad corre el riesgo de volverse invisible a la mirada de muchos saberes especializados, que responden a exigencias inmediatas, pero les cuesta ver la vida como realidad poliédrica. El artista recuerda a todos que la dimensión en la que nos movemos, también cuando no somos conscientes, es la del Espíritu. Vuestro arte es como una vela que se llena del Espíritu y hace ir adelante. La amistad de la Iglesia con el arte es por tanto algo natural. Pero es también una amistad especial, sobre todo si pensamos en muchos tramos de historia recorridos juntos, que pertenecen al patrimonio de todos, creyentes y no creyentes. Recordando esto esperamos nuevos frutos también en nuestro tiempo, en un clima de escucha, de libertad y de respeto. La gente necesita estos frutos, frutos especiales.

 

Escribía Romano Guardini que «el estado en el que se encuentra el artista mientras crea es parecido al del niño o el del vidente» (La obra de arte, Brescia 1998, 25). Me parecen dos comparaciones interesantes. Según él «la obra de arte abre un espacio en el que el hombre puede entrar, en el que puede respirar, moverse y tratar las cosas y a los hombres, que se han abierto» (ibid., p. 35). Es verdad, cuando se obra en el arte los confines disminuyen y los límites de la experiencia y de la comprensión se dilatan. Todo parece más abierto y disponible. Entonces se adquiere la espontaneidad del niño que imagina y la agudeza del vidente que capta la realidad.

 

Sí, el artista es un niño —no debe sonar como una ofensa—; significa que se mueve sobre todo en el espacio de la invención, de la novedad, de la creación, del poner en el mundo algo que así no se había visto nunca. Haciendo esto, desmiente la idea de que el hombre sea un ser para la muerte. El hombre debe hacer las cuentas con su mortalidad, es verdad, pero no es un ser para la muerte, sino para la vida. Una gran pensadora como Hannah Arendt afirma que lo proprio del ser humano es vivir para llevar al mundo la novedad. Esta es la dimensión de fecundidad del hombre. Llevar la novedad.

 

También en la fecundidad natural cada hijo es una novedad. Abrir y llevar novedad. Los artistas realizáis esto, haciendo valer vuestra originalidad. En las obras os ponéis siempre a vosotros mismos, como seres irrepetibles igual que todos, pero con la intención de crear aún más. Cuando el talento os asiste, lleváis a la luz lo inédito, enriquecéis el mundo de una realidad nueva. Pienso en algunas palabras que leemos en el Libro del profeta Isaías, cuando Dios dice: «He aquí que yo lo renuevo: ya está en marcha, ¿no lo reconocéis?» (43,19). Y en el Apocalipsis confirma: «Mira que hago un mundo nuevo» (21,5). La creatividad del artista parece así participar de la pasión generativa de Dios. Esa pasión con la que Dios ha creado. ¡Sois aliados del sueño de Dios! Sois ojos que miran y que sueñan. No basta solamente con mirar, también es necesario soñar. Decía un escritor latinoamericano que nosotros, las personas, tenemos dos ojos: uno para mirar lo que vemos y otro para mirar lo que soñamos. Y cuando una persona no tiene estos dos ojos, o solamente parte de uno o del otro, le falta algo. Ver lo que soñamos… La creatividad del artista: no basta solamente con mirar, es necesario soñar. Nosotros seres humanos anhelamos un mundo nuevo que no veremos completamente con nuestros ojos, sin embargo, lo deseamos, lo buscamos, lo soñamos.

 

Los artistas tenéis la capacidad de soñar nuevas versiones del mundo. Y esto es importante: nuevas versiones del mundo. La capacidad de introducir novedades en la historia. Por esto Guardini dice que os parecéis también a los videntes. Sois un poco como los profetas. Sabéis mirar las cosas tanto en profundidad como en lejanía, como centinelas que entrecierran los ojos para escudriñar el horizonte y comprender la realidad más allá de las apariencias. En esto estáis llamados a huir del poder sugerente de esa presunta belleza artificial y superficial hoy difundida y muchas veces cómplice de los mecanismos económicos generadores de desigualdades. Esa belleza que no atrae, porque es una belleza que nace muerta. No hay vida ahí, no atrae. Es una belleza fingida, cosmética, un maquillaje que esconde en vez de revelar. En italiano se dice “trucco” porque tiene algo de engaño.

 

Vosotros os mantenéis distantes de esa belleza, vuestro arte quiere actuar como conciencia crítica de la sociedad, quitando el velo a la obviedad. Queréis demostrar lo que hace pensar, lo que hace vigilantes, lo que desvela la realidad también en sus contradicciones, en sus aspectos que es más cómodo o conveniente tener escondidos. Como los profetas bíblicos, nos ponéis frente a cosas que a veces molestan, criticando los falsos mitos de hoy, los nuevos ídolos, los discursos banales, las trampas del consumo, las astucias del poder. Es interesante esto en la psicología, en la personalidad de los artistas: la capacidad de ir más allá, de ir más allá, en tensión entre la realidad y el sueño.

 

Y a menudo lo hacéis con la ironía, que es una virtud maravillosa. Dos virtudes que nosotros no cultivamos tanto: el sentido del humor y la ironía, debemos cultivarlas más. La Biblia es rica de momentos de ironía, en los que se burla de la presunción de autosuficiencia, la prevaricación, la injusticia, la inhumanidad cuando se revisten de poder y a veces también de sacralidad. Hacéis bien siendo también centinelas del verdadero sentido religioso, a veces banalizado o comercializado. En este ser videntes, centinelas, conciencias críticas, os siento aliados para muchas cosas que me importan mucho, como la defensa de la vida humana, la justicia social, los últimos, el cuidado de la casa común, el sentirnos todos hermanos.

Me importa mucho la humanidad de la humanidad, la dimensión humana de la humanidad. Porque es también la gran pasión de Dios. Una de las cosas que acercan el arte a la fe es el hecho de molestar un poco. El arte y la fe no pueden dejar las cosas como están: las cambian, las transforman, las convierten, las mueven. El arte nunca puede ser un anestésico; da paz, pero no duerme las conciencias, las mantiene despiertas. A menudo los artistas tratáis de sondear también los inframundos de la condición humana, los abismos, las partes oscuras. Nosotros no somos solo luz, y vosotros nos lo recordáis; pero se necesita arrojar la luz de la esperanza en las tinieblas de lo humano, del individualismo y de la indiferencia. Ayudadnos a vislumbrar la luz, la belleza que salva.

 

El arte siempre ha estado vinculado a la experiencia de la belleza. Simone Weil escribía: «La belleza seduce la carne para obtener el permiso de pasar hasta el alma» (La sombra y la gracia, Bolonia 2021, 193). El arte toca los sentidos para animar el espíritu y hace esto a través de la belleza, que es el reflejo de las cosas cuando son buenas, justas, verdaderas. Es la señal de que algo tiene plenitud: es entonces que nos surge espontáneo decir: “¡Qué hermoso!” La belleza nos hace sentir que la vida está orientada a la plenitud. En la verdadera belleza se empieza así a sentir la nostalgia de Dios. Muchos esperan que el arte vuelva mayormente a frecuentar la belleza. Cierto, como decía existe también una belleza fútil, una belleza artificial y superficial, incluso engañosa, la del maquillaje.

 

Pero creo que haya un criterio importante para discernir, el de la armonía. La verdadera belleza, de hecho, es reflejo de la armonía. En teología —es interesante— los teólogos describen la paternidad de Dios, la filiación de Jesucristo, pero cuando se trata de describir el Espíritu Santo: el Espíritu Santo es armonía. Ipse harmonia est . El Espíritu es el que hace armonía. Y el artista tiene algo de este Espíritu para hacer armonía. Esta dimensión humana de lo espiritual. La belleza verdadera, de hecho, es reflejo de la armonía. Esta, si puedo decir así, es la virtud operativa de la belleza. Es su espíritu de fondo, en el que actúa el Espíritu de Dios, el gran armonizador del mundo. La armonía es cuando hay partes, diferentes entre ellas, pero que componen una unidad, diferente de cada una de las partes y diferente de la suma de las partes. Es algo difícil, que solo el Espíritu puede hacer posible: que las diferencias no se vuelvan conflictos, sino diversidades que se integran; y al mismo tiempo que la unidad no sea uniformidad, sino que albergue lo que es múltiple. La armonía hace estos milagros, como en Pentecostés. Siempre me conmueve pensar en el Espíritu Santo como el que permite hacer los desórdenes más grandes —pensemos en la mañana de Pentecostés— y después hace la armonía.

 

Que no es el equilibrio, no, para hacer la armonía hace falta primero el desequilibrio; la armonía es otra cosa respecto al equilibrio. Qué actual es este mensaje: estamos en un tiempo de colonizaciones ideológicas mediáticas y de conflictos desgarradores; una globalización homogeneizadora convive con muchos localismos cerrados. Este es el peligro de nuestro tiempo. Incluso la Iglesia puede verse afectada. El conflicto puede actuar bajo una pretensión fingida de unidad; de ahí las divisiones, las facciones, los narcisismos. Necesitamos que el principio de la armonía habite más nuestro mundo y expulse la uniformidad. Vosotros, los artistas, podéis ayudarnos a hacer lugar para el Espíritu. Cuando vemos la obra del Espíritu, que es crear la armonía de las diferencias, no destruirlas, no uniformarlas, sino armonizarlas, entonces comprendemos qué es la belleza. La belleza es esa obra del Espíritu que crea armonía. ¡Hermanos y hermanas, que vuestro genio viaje por este camino!

 

Queridos amigos, estoy feliz por este encuentro con vosotros. Antes de saludaros, tengo todavía una cosa que deciros, que me importa mucho. Quisiera pediros que no os olvidéis de los pobres, que son los preferidos de Cristo, en todos los modos en los que se es pobre hoy. También los pobres necesitan del arte y de la belleza. Algunos experimentan formas durísimas de privación de la vida; por esto, lo necesitan más. Normalmente no tienen voz para hacerse escuchar. Vosotros podéis haceros intérpretes de su grito silencioso.

 

Os doy las gracias y os confirmo mi estima. Deseo que vuestras obras sean dignas de las mujeres y de los hombres de esta tierra, y den gloria a Dios, que es Padre de todos, y que todos buscan, también a través del arte. Y finalmente os pido, armónicamente, que recéis por mí. Gracias.

 

APOSTOLIC LETTER

DUODECIMUM SAECULUM

OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
JOHN PAUL II
TO THE EPISCOPATE OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
ON THE OCCASION OF THE 1200th ANNIVERSARY
OF THE SECOND COUNCIL OF NICAEA

December 4, 1987

 

Venerable Brothers, Greetings and the Apostolic Blessing!

 

1. The Twelfth Centenary of the Second Council of Nicaea (787) was the object of many ecclesial and academic celebrations in which the Holy See itself took part.(1) The event was also commemorated by the publication of an Encyclical from His Holiness the Patriarch of Constantinople and of the Holy Synod,(2) an initiative which underlines the theological importance and the ecumenical significance of the seventh and last Council fully recognized by both the Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church. The doctrine defined by this Council concerning the lawfulness of the veneration of icons also merits special attention, not only for the wealth of its spiritual implications, but also for the demands that it imposes on the whole of sacred art.

 

The importance given by Nicaea II to the argument of tradition, and more specifically the unwritten tradition, constitutes for us Catholics as well as for our Orthodox brethren an invitation to travel again together the road of the undivided Church, and to re-examine in her light the differences between us that the centuries of separation have accentuated, in order to rediscover that for which Jesus prayed to the Father (cf. John 17, 11; 20-21), full communion in visible unity.

I.

2. In giving an account of the Council of Nicaea II to Pope Hadrian I, the moderator of the Council, Saint Taraise, wrote: "having all taken our places we took Christ as (our) head. In fact, the Holy Gospel was placed on a throne, inviting all those present to judge according to justice."(3) Putting Christ in evidence as the president of the conciliar assembly, which was meeting in his name and under his authority, was an eloquent gesture to affirm that the unity of the Church can only achieved in obedience to its one Lord.

3. The rulers Irene and Constantine VI, who convoked the Council, had invited my predecessor Hadrian I in his capacity as "the real first pontiff who presides in the place and on the seat of the Saint and very venerable Apostle Peter."(4) Hadrian I was represented by the archpriest of the Roman Church and the head of the Greek monastery of Saint Saba in Rome. To ensure the universal representation of the Church, the presence of the Eastern Patriarchs was also required.(5) Since their territories were already under Muslim domination, the Patriarchs Alexandria and Antioch sent a joint letter to Taraise, and the Patriarch of Jerusalem sent a synodal letter; both of these were read at the Council.(6) It was accepted that the decisions of an Ecumenical Council were valid only if the Bishop of Rome had offered his collaboration and if the Eastern Patriarchs had given their agreement.(7) In this process, the role of the Church of Rome was recognized as irreplaceable.(8) Thus Nicaea II approved the explanation of the deacon John according to which the iconoclast meeting of Hieria of 754 was not legitimate because "neither the Pope of Rome nor the bishops who surround him had collaborated in it, either through their legates or by an encyclical letter, according to the law of the synods," and that the Patriarchs of the East ... and the bishops who are with them had not given their consent to it."(9) Besides, the Fathers of Nicaea declared that they "followed, received and accepted" the letter sent by Hadrian to the emperors,(10) as well as the one addressed to the Patriarch. Both were read in Latin and in their Greek translation, and all were invited to give their individual approval.(11)

 

II.

4. In the papal legates the Council greeted the "Church of the Holy Apostle Peter"(12) and of the "Apostolic See,"(13) according to the Roman formula;(14) and the Patriarch Taraise, writing to my predecessor in the name of the Council, recognized in him the one "who has inherited the chair of the divine Apostle Peter," and who, "vested with the supreme priesthood, presides legitimately, by the will of God, over the religious hierarchy."(15)

 

One of the decisive moments when the Council pronounced in favor of re-establishing the cult of images seems to have been when they unanimously accepted the proposal of the Roman legates to have a venerable icon brought to the meeting so that Fathers could pay homage of it.(16)

The last Ecumenical Council recognized by both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches is a remarkable example of collaboration between the See of Rome and a conciliar assembly. It was set in the perspective of patristic ecclesiology of communion, founded on tradition, which the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council has justly highlighted.

 

5. Nicaea II solemnly affirmed the existence of "written and unwritten ecclesiastical tradition,"(17) as the normative reference for the faith and discipline of the Church. The Fathers affirmed that they wished to "conserve intact all the traditions of the Church which were entrusted (to them), whether written or not. One of these consist precisely in the painting of icons, in conformity to the letter of apostolic preaching."(18) Against the iconoclast current which had also appealed to Scripture and the Tradition of the Fathers, especially in the pseudosynod of Hieria in 754, Nicaea II sanctioned the lawfulness of the veneration of images, confirming "the divinely inspired teachings of the holy Fathers and the tradition of the Catholic Church."(19)

 

The Fathers of Nicaea II understood "ecclesiastical tradition" as that of the six previous ecumenical Councils and that of the orthodox Fathers whose teaching was commonly accepted in the Church. Thus the Council defined as being of the faith this essential truth according to which the Christian message is "tradition," paradosis. As the Church developed in time and space, her understanding of the tradition which she carries has also known stages of development, the study of which constitutes an obligatory itinerary for ecumenical dialogue and all authentic theological reflection.

6. From Saint Paul we learn that, for the first Christian generation, the paradosis is the proclamation of the event of Christ and its actual meaning, which effects salvation through the action of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 15, 3-8; 11, 2). The tradition of the Lord's words and actions, without being exhausted (cf. Luke 1, 1; John 20, 30; 21, 25) was gathered in the four Gospels. This founding tradition is "apostolic" tradition (cf. Thess. 2, 14-15; Jude 17; 2 Peter 3, 2). It concerns not only the "deposit" of the "true doctrine" (cf. 2 Tim. 1, 6-12; Tit. 1, 9), but also the norms of behavior and the rules for community life (cf. I Thess, 4, 1-7; 1 Cor, 4, 17; 7, 17; 11, 16; 14, 33). The Church reads Scripture in the light of the "rule of faith,"(20) that is, of her living faith that has remained faithful to the teaching of the Apostles. What the Church has always believed and practiced, she justly considers as "apostolic tradition." Saint Augustine says: "An observance kept by the whole Church and always maintained without having been instituted by the Councils, is regarded in all justice as nothing else than a tradition that emanates from the authority of the Apostles."(21)

 

In fact, the stand taken by the Fathers in the great theological debates of the fourth and fifth centuries of the growing importance of the synodal institution at the regional and universal levels have gradually made of tradition the "tradition of the Fathers," or the "ecclesiastical tradition," conceived as the homogeneous development of apostolic tradition. Thus Saint Basil the Great appeals to the unwritten traditions" which are the "traditions of the Fathers"(22) on which to base his Trinitarian theology, and he stresses the double origin of the Church's doctrine, "from the written teaching as well as from apostolic tradition."(23)

 

The Council of Nicaea II which aptly quotes Saint Basil on the question of the theology of images(24) also invokes the authority of the great orthodox doctors such as Saint John Chrysostom, Saint Gregory of Nyssa, Saint Cyril of Alexandria and Saint Gregory Nazianzen. Saint John Damascene also revealed the importance for the faith of "unwritten traditions," that is, not contained in Scripture, when he states: "If somebody were to bring a Gospel other than that which the Catholic Church received from the holy Apostles, the Fathers and the Councils, and which she has kept to our day, do not listen to him."(25)

 

7. Closer to us, the Second Vatican Council has put in full light the importance of the "tradition that comes from the Apostles." "In fact, Sacred Scripture is the Word of God in that, under the inspiration of the Divine Spirit, it is put in writing; as for Holy Tradition, it carries the Word of God, entrusted by the Lord Christ and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and fully transmitted to their successors."(26) "The Tradition received from the Apostles includes everything that contributes to the holiness of life and increase in faith of the People of God."(27) With Sacred Scripture, "holy Tradition constitutes a sole sacred deposit of the word of God entrusted to the Church." The authentic interpretation of the "word of God, written or transmitted, has been entrusted to the one living magisterium of the Church whose authority is exercised in the name of Jesus Christ."(28) It is in equal fidelity to the common treasure of tradition which goes back to the Apostles that the Churches today are trying to examine carefully the reasons for their differences and how to overcome them.

 

III.

8. The terrible "quarrel over images" that tore the Byzantine Empire apart under the Isaurian emperors Leo III and Constantine V, between 730 and 780, and again under Leo V, from 814 to 843, is explained mainly by the theological debate which was originally at stake.

 

Without ignoring the danger of an ever possible resurgence of the idolatrous practices of paganism, the Church permitted that the Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the martyrs and the saints should be represented in pictorial form or in sculpture to sustain the prayer and devotion of the faithful. It was clear to everyone, according to Saint Basil's formula recalled at Nicaea II, that "the honor rendered to the icon reaches the prototype."(29) In the West, Pope Saint Gregory the Great had insisted on the didactic aspect of the paintings in the churches, which were useful for the illiterate "to read on the walls what they were incapable of reading in books," and stressed that this contemplation should lead to the adoration of the "one and omnipotent Holy Trinity."(30) It is in that context that there developed, particularly in Rome in the eighth century, the cult of images of the saints which gave rise to an admirable artistic production.

 

In breaking with the authentic tradition of the Church, the iconoclast movement considered the veneration of images as a return to idolatry. Not without contradiction or ambiguity, they forbade representations of Christ and religious images in general but continued to allow profane images, in particular those of the Emperor with the signs of reverence that were attached to them. The basis of the iconoclast argument was of a Christological nature. How was it possible to depict Christ, who unites in his person, without confusing or separating them, the divine nature and the human Nature? To represent his unfathomable divinity would be impossible; to represent him in his humanity would only be to divide him, to separate the divinity and humanity in him. To choose one or the other of these options would lead to the opposed Christological heresies of Monophysitism and Nestorianism. For, in trying to represent Christ in his divinity, one would necessarily have to absorb his humanity; in showing only a human picture, one would hide the fact that he is also God.

 

9. The dilemma posed by the iconoclasts involved much more than the question of the possibility of Christian art; it called into question the whole Christian vision of the reality of the Incarnation and therefore the relationships of God and the world, grace and nature, in short, the specific character of the "new covenant" that God made with humanity in Jesus Christ. The defenders of images saw it well: according to the Patriarch of Constantinople, Saint Germain, an illustrious victim of the iconoclast heresy, it is "the divine economy according to the flesh"(31) that was being questioned. For, to see represented the human face of the Son of God, "image of the invisible God," (Col. 1, 15), is to see the Word made flesh (cf. John 1, 14), the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (cf. John 1, 29). Therefore art can represent the form, the effigy of God's human face and lead the one who contemplates it to the ineffable mystery of God made man for our salvation. Thus Pope Hadrian could write: "By means of a visible face, our spirit will be carried by a spiritual attraction towards the invisible majesty of the divinity through the contemplation of the image where is represented the flesh that the Son of God deigned to take for our salvation. May we thus adore and praise him together while glorifying in spirit this same Redeemer for, as it is written, `God is Spirit,' and that is why we spiritually adore his divinity."(32)

 

Hence, Nicaea II solemnly reaffirmed the traditional distinction between "the true adoration (latreia)" which "according to our faith is rendered to the unique divine nature" and "and the prostration of honor (timetike proskynesis) "which is attributed to icons, for "he who prostrates before the icon does so before the person (hypostasis) who is represented therein."(33)

 

Therefore the iconography of Christ involves the whole faith in the reality of the Incarnation and its inexhaustible meaning for the Church and the world. If the Church practices it, it is because she is convinced that the God revealed in Jesus Christ has truly redeemed and sanctified the flesh and the whole sensible world, that is man with his five senses, to allow him to be ever renewed in the image of his creator (cf. Col. 3, 10).

 

 

 

IV.

10. Nicaea II sanctioned the tradition according to which "venerable and holy images, done in color, mosaics and all other appropriate materials, of our Lord God and Savior Jesus Christ as well as those of Mary Immaculate, the Holy Theotokos, the honorable angels and all holy and pious people are to be exposed in the holy churches of God, on sacred vessels and vestments, on the walls and on the floors, in the houses and in the streets."(34) The doctrine of this Council has nourished the art of the Church in the West as much as in the East, inspiring works of sublime beauty and depth.

 

In particular, the Greek and Slav Churches, basing themselves on the works of the iconodulous theologians Saints Nicephorous of Constantinople and Theodore Studite, considered the veneration of icons as an integral part of the liturgy, like the celebration of the Word. Just as the reading of material books allows the hearing of the living word of the Lord, so also the showing of the painted icon allows those who contemplate it to accede to the mystery of salvation by the sense of sight, "What on the one hand is represented by ink and paper is represented on the other hand in the icon, thanks to the various colors and other materials." (35)

 

In the West, the Church of Rome distinguished herself by the unbroken continuity of her action in favor of images,(36) especially at the critical moment between 825 and 843, when both the Byzantine and Frankish Empires were hostile to Nicaea II. At the Council of Trent the Catholic Church reaffirmed the traditional doctrine against a new form of iconoclasm that was then manifesting itself. More recently, Vatican II recalled with sobriety the permanent attitude of the Church regarding images (37) and sacred art in general.(38)

 

11. Over the past several decades we have observed a resurgence of interest in the theology and spirituality of Oriental icons, a sign of the growing need for a spiritual language of authentically Christian art. In this regard, I can only invite my brothers in the episcopate to "maintain firmly the practice of proposing to the faithful the veneration of sacred images in the churches"(39) and to do everything so that more works of truly ecclesial quality may be produced. The believer of today, like the one yesterday, must be helped in his prayer and spiritual life by seeing works that attempt to express the mystery and never hide it. That is why today, as in the past, faith is the necessary inspiration of Church art.

 

Art for art's sake, which only refers to the author, without establishing a relationship with the divine world, does not have its place in the Christian concept of the icon. No matter what style is adopted, all sacred art must express the faith and hope of the Church. The tradition of the icon shows that the artist must be conscious of fulfilling a mission of service to the Church.

 

Authentic Christian art is that which, through sensible perception, gives the intuition that the Lord is present in his Church, that the events of salvation history give meaning and orientation to our life, that the glory that is promised us already transforms our existence. Sacred art must tend to offer us a visual synthesis of all dimensions of our faith. Church art must aim at speaking the language of the Incarnation and, with the elements of matter, express the One who "deigned to dwell in matter and bring about our salvation through matter" according to Saint John Damascene's beautiful expression.(40)

 

The rediscovery of the Christian icon will also help in raising the awareness of the urgency of reacting against the depersonalizing and at times degrading effects of the many images that condition our lives in advertisements and the media, for it is an image that turns towards us the look of Another invisible one and gives us access to the reality of the eschatological world.

12. Beloved brothers, In recalling the pertinence of the teaching of the Seventh Ecumenical Council, it seems that we are sent back to our primordial task of evangelization. The growing secularization of society shows that that it is becoming largely estranged from spiritual values, from the mystery of our salvation in Jesus Christ, from the reality of the world to come. Our most authentic tradition, which we share with our Orthodox brethren, teaches us that the language of beauty placed at the service of faith is capable of reaching people's hearts and making them know from within the One whom we dare to represent in images, Jesus Christ, Son of God made man, "the same yesterday, today and forever" (Heb. 13, 8).

 

To all I cordially impart the Apostolic Blessing.

 

Given in Rome, at Saint Peter's, December 4, 1987, memorial of Saint John Damascene, priest and doctor of the Church, in the tenth year of my pontificate.

 

IOANNES PAULUS PP.II

 

 

NOTES

1. Especially by the letter of October 8, 1987, from the Cardinal Secretary of State to the President of the International Society for the History of Councils, on the occasion of the Istanbul Symposium (L'Osservatore Romano, October 12-13, 1987).

2. Epi te 1200e epeteio apo tes suykleseos tes en Nikaia hagias z' oikoumenikes Sunodou 787-1987), Phanar, September 14, 1987.

3. J.D. Mansi, Sacrorum Conciliorum nova et amplissima Collectio (= Mansi) XIII, 459C.

4. Mansi XII, 985.

5. Cf. Mansi XII, 1007. 1086 and Monumenta Germaniae Historica (=MGH), Epistulae V (Epistulae Karolini Aevi, t. 3), p. 29, 30-33.

6. Cf. Mansi XII, 1127-1135 and 1135-1145.

7. So said the priest John, representing the Eastern Patriarchs, Mansi XII, 990A and XIII, 4A.

8. Cf. Mansi XII, 1134.

9. Cf. Mansi XIII, 208-209.

10. Cf. Mansi XII, 1085.

11. Mansi XII, 1085-1111.

12. Mansi XII, 994, 1041, 1114; XIII, 157, 204, 366.

13. Mansi XII, 1086.

14. Cf. Letter of Hadrian I to Charlemagne, in: MGH, Epistulae III, (Epistulae Merowingici et Karolini Aevi, t. 1), p. 587, 5.

15. Mansi XIII, 463BC.

16. Mansi XIII, 200.

17. Cf. 4th anathema, in: Mansi XIII, 400.

18. Horos, in: Mansi XIII, 377BC.

19. Ibid., 377BC.

20. Cf. Irenaeus, Adversus Haereses 1, 10, 1; 22, 1; in Sources Chretiennes (=SCh) 264, p. 154-158; 308-310; Tertullian, De Praescriptione 13, 16, in: Corpus Christianorum, series Latina (=CChL) I, pp. 197-198; Origen, Peri Archon Praef. 4-10, in: SCh 252, pp. 80-89.

21. De baptismo IV 24, 31, in Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum (=CSEL) 51, p. 259.

22. On the Holy Spirit VII 16, 21, 32; IX 22, 3; XXIX 71, 6; XXX 79, 15, in: SCh 17bis, pp. 298, 300, 322, 500, 528.

23. Ibid., XXVII 66, 1-3, pp. 478-480.

24. Cf. Horos, in Mansi XIII, 378E.

25. Discourses on images III, 3, in: PG 94, 1320-1321; or B. Kotter, Die Schriften des Johannes von Damaskos, vol. III (Contra imaginum calumniatores orationes tres), "Patristische Studien" 17, Berlin-New York, 1975, III, pp. 72-73.

26. Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum, 9.

27. Ibid., 8.

28. Ibid., 10.

29. On the Holy Spirit XVIII, 45, 19, in: SCh 17bis, p. 496; Nicaea II, Horos, in: Mansi XIII 377E.

30. Letters of Saint Gregory the Great to the Bishop Serenus of Marseille, in: MGH, Gregorii I Papae registrum Epistularum, II, 1, lib. IX, 208, p. 195. and II, 2, lib. XI, 10, pp. 270-271; or in: CChL 140A, lib. IX, 209, p. 768 and lib. XI, 10, pp. 874-875.

31. According to Theophane, Chronographia ad annum 6221, ed. C. de Boor, I, Leipzig, 1883, p. 404; or PG 108, 821C.

32. Letter of Hadrian I to the Emperors, in: Mansi XII, 1062AB.

33. Horos, in: Mansi XIII, 377E.

34. Ibid., 377D.

35. Theodore Studite, Antirrheticus, 1, 10, in: PG 99, 339D.

36. Cf. Letter of Hadrian to Charlemagne, in MGH, Epistulae V (Epistulae Karolini Aevi, t. III), pp. 5-57; or PL 98, 1248-1292.

37. Cf. Constitutions Sacrosanctum Concilium, 111, 1; 125; 128; Lumen Gentium, 51; 67; Gaudium et Spes, 62, 4-5; and also Codex Iuris Canonici, can. 1255 and 1276.

38. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 122-124.

39. Ibid., 125.

40. Discourse on images, I 16, in: PG 94, 1246A; or ed. Kotter, 1 16, p. 89.

 

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV

Basilica of the Sagrada Família (Barcelona)
Wednesday, June, 10, 2026

 

“Senyor, sobirà nostre, que n’és, de gloriós, el vostre nom per tota la terra!” (Ps 8:1). With the praise of this psalm, so full of joy and wonder, I greet all of you, dear brothers and sisters. I express my gratitude to their Majesties. I thank Cardinal Juan José Omella, Archbishop of Barcelona, as well as my fellow bishops and all those who join us in prayer: priests, deacons and men and women religious. On this evening of celebration for the entire city of Barcelona, I extend grateful greetings to the public authorities, as well as to the members of other Christian communities and religions who are participating in our act of thanksgiving.

 

Today, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia welcomes us to this beautiful city, opening its doors as though they were its arms, inviting each of us to this altar, to listen to the Word of God, which makes us a family loved by the Lord, nourished by his own life in the Eucharist. Thus, com la ciutat comtal and all Catalonia gather in this temple, as a sign of unity and harmony, and lift their gaze to encounter the face of God the Father, shining forth in his Son made man, Jesus Christ.

 

As we give thanks to the Lord for his love toward us, we praise him for his work in our lives. We thank him in particular for this extraordinary basilica, which Pope Benedict XVI consecrated in 2010, recalling that it is a visible sign of the invisible God, for whose glory its towers rise (cf. Homily for the Consecration, 7 November 2010). In continuity with the prayer of my Predecessor, in a few moments I will bless the highest tower, that of Jesus Christ.

 

This church is a single building made of many stones. A house that grows steadily over the years following a single plan. We are all the living stones of this edifice, which has Christ as its foundation and crowning glory, its beginning and end. Much more than a monument, the Basilica of the Sagrada Familia remains a work in progress today, reminding us that the Christian life is always a journey, because it is a project that God is carrying out.

 

We do not, therefore, dwell in an unfinished work, but in a temple still under construction. The fact that it is incomplete is not a flaw, for it bears witness to a desire; it does not signify a shortcoming, but rather expresses a promise that we wish to honor with consistency. Our gratitude thus becomes a commitment as we cooperate in God’s plan — that is, in the edification to which he himself calls us. Since we are the temple of the Holy Spirit (cf. 1 Cor 6:19), this work consists in our very lives, which God conceives as a masterpiece that we are to create together, and he calls us to collaborate with him (cf. 1 Cor 3:9).

 

In this regard, we hold dear in our hearts the words the Lord addressed to King David: “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” (2 Sam 7:5). On the contrary, “the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house” (v. 11). With this passage, Scripture teaches us that it is not we who make a dwelling for God, as if he were simply one thing among others or part of a whole greater than himself. Rather, it is God who makes a place for us, and the place he gives us is his own heart: the place of the Son, for us who were strangers; the place of the Beloved, for us who are sinners.

 

This desire of his is fulfilled through Jesus; we can then understand the meaning of what we heard in the Gospel, when the Lord says to the Pharisees: “you will die in your sins unless you believe that I am he” (Jn 8:24). These are strong words, which are by no means intended as threats or blackmail. They are an invitation to salvation — that is, a call to freedom extended by Christ, who desires for us the ultimate, eternal good. When faced with the threat of evil, the Lord is always with us, always on our side. “I am:” this is the Most Holy Name that God shared with Moses from the burning bush, revealing his unshakable faithfulness. As God made man, he becomes for us Emmanuel, the source of grace and forgiveness, of salvation and new life. Dear brothers and sisters, we cannot believe in Jesus and promote war. We cannot believe in Jesus and kill the innocent. We cannot believe in Jesus and abandon those who suffer, those who weep, those who flee from misery.

 

Tonight, then, let us remember that la Creu de Crist, which crowns this Basilica, és la Creu dels últims who become the first, of sinners who become saints, of the dead who will rise again. The three facades of the Sagrada Familia bear witness to this: the First becomes the last for us at the Nativity; through his sacrifice, he redeems us through his Passion; his death gives us eternal life, making us sharers in divine glory. As we admire the tower of Jesus Christ, we lift our gaze toward him, toward the One who alone reveals to us the truth about God and the truth about ourselves. By looking at Christ, we can see the world with renewed eyes: the tower of the cross then becomes a banner of charity, for God loves us in this way, transforming an instrument of death into a sign of hope. In Jesus’ cross, our faith reaches its summit, as professed by the inscription found at the base of the spire: “Tu solus Sanctus, Tu solus Dominus, tu solus Altissimus.” This cross shines by day, reflecting the sunlight, and shines by night, illuminating the city like a lighthouse overlooking the Mediterranean.

Yes, the light of Christ shines in the darkness, even though the darkness has not received it (cf. Jn 1:5, 11). Yet this rejection does not mean that God’s love is lacking: “When you have lifted up the Son of Man,” says the Lord, “then you will realize that I am he, and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me” (Jn 8:28). It is necessary to pass through the passion of the crucified One to be enlightened by the glory of the risen One, for from the beginning, the Father teaches us to give our lives, and the Son, who receives life from him, gives it to all through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is precisely why the cross is the radiant sign of his love. 

 

It is faith that shapes the stones and gives meaning to the edifice we inhabit together. In our prayer, therefore, we discover the original bond between all things and God, the Creator of heaven and earth. He is the Artist who has imprinted his splendor upon the cosmos. Created in his image, humanity responds to God’s work with its own ingenuity: this is how the artist transforms talent into praise and creativity into a testimony to the Creator himself. As an architect inspired by faith, the venerable Antoni Gaudí designed this place with the desire to narrate the mysteries of the Lord’s life. In this way, he has proposed to us a spiritual pilgrimage, leading to an encounter with Christ who for our sake was born, died and rose again. Together with Gaudí, as we commemorate the centenary of his death, we remember and give thanks this evening to all the supporters and benefactors, the artists and the workers who cooperated in the construction of an architectural masterpiece, which is also an eloquent catechesis made of stones, colors and light. In her wisdom, the Church thus renews the Biblia pauperum of the ancient cathedrals, which are in themselves rich messages of evangelization. In this age in which image is so prevalent, it becomes even more evident how art and beauty are privileged channels of evangelization.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, the beauty of this church inspires us to learn ever more from our Master and Lord the art of living according to his Gospel. As we lift our gaze toward him, the crucified and risen One, let us commit ourselves to lifting up those who lie in the dust (cf. 1 Sam 2:8). And let us show in this way that the Sagrada Familia is the tallest church in the world, not so as to stand out in worldly rankings, but rather to guide the steps of the People of God who make their pilgrimage in this land of Catalonia, with the Cross illuminating their path, like a lamp burning brightly as we await the return of the Bridegroom.

 

 

BLESSING OF THE TOWER OF JESUS CHRIST

Brothers and sisters: with grateful hearts, let us give praise to God as we inaugurate the new tower of this Basilica, on the centenary of the death of the Venerable Antoni Gaudí, ‘God’s architect’, dedicated to our Lord Jesus Christ and crowned by the cross, the mystery of mercy and salvation. Let us lift our spirits to the things above and long for the heavenly realities which the Eucharistic banquet has given us, making us one in Christ.

We bless you, Lord, Holy Father, and we give you thanks, for before you created the world you established your Son Jesus Christ as the beginning and the end of all things, and, through him, by a marvellous plan of love, you raised humanity up to yourself through the mystery of his death and resurrection.

We now implore you to pour out the Holy Spirit upon your people, whom you have inspired to raise this tower towards heaven, the place of your dwelling, where, united with Christ, we shall live forever in you.

Grant that your children, as they turn their gaze to the cross of the Redeemer, which crowns this Basilica of the Sagrada Família, may attain the fruits of salvation and bear witness to the joy which, from this tree of life, has come to the whole world.

 

In your goodness, remember those who have worked to build this house of prayer and all those who will find peace and comfort within it. You, who enlightened your servant Antoni Gaudí to turn away from the realities of this world and seek those of heaven, grant that we may build the New Jerusalem of your Kingdom amongst mankind.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord.

MESSAGE OF HIS EMINENCE CARD. JOSEPH RATZINGER
TO THE COMMUNION AND LIBERATION (CL)
MEETING AT RIMINI (AUGUST 24-30, 2002)

"The Feeling of Things, the Contemplation of Beauty"

 

Every year, in the Liturgy of the Hours for the Season of Lent, I am struck anew by a paradox in Vespers for Monday of the Second Week of the Psalter. Here, side by side, are two antiphons, one for the Season of Lent, the other for Holy Week. Both introduce Psalm 44 [45], but they present strikingly contradictory interpretations. The Psalm describes the wedding of the King, his beauty, his virtues, his mission, and then becomes an exaltation of his bride. In the Season of Lent, Psalm 44 is framed by the same antiphon used for the rest of the year. The third verse of the Psalm says: "You are the fairest of the children of men and grace is poured upon your lips".

 

Naturally, the Church reads this psalm as a poetic-prophetic representation of Christ's spousal relationship with his Church. She recognizes Christ as the fairest of men, the grace poured upon his lips points to the inner beauty of his words, the glory of his proclamation. So it is not merely the external beauty of the Redeemer's appearance that is glorified: rather, the beauty of Truth appears in him, the beauty of God himself who draws us to himself and, at the same time captures us with the wound of Love, the holy passion (eros), that enables us to go forth together, with and in the Church his Bride, to meet the Love who calls us.

 

On Monday of Holy Week, however, the Church changes the antiphon and invites us to interpret the Psalm in the light of Is 53,2: "He had neither beauty, no majesty, nothing to attract our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him". How can we reconcile this? The appearance of the "fairest of the children of men" is so wretched that no one desires to look at him. Pilate presented him to the crowd saying: "Behold the man!", to rouse sympathy for the crushed and battered Man, in whom no external beauty remained.

 

Augustine, who in his youth wrote a book on the Beautiful and the Harmonious [De pulchro et apto] and who appreciated beauty in words, in music, in the figurative arts, had a keen appreciation of this paradox and realized that in this regard, the great Greek philosophy of the beautiful was not simply rejected but rather, dramatically called into question and what the beautiful might be, what beauty might mean, would have to be debated anew and suffered. Referring to the paradox contained in these texts, he spoke of the contrasting blasts of "two trumpets", produced by the same breath, the same Spirit. He knew that a paradox is contrast and not contradiction. Both quotes come from the same Spirit who inspires all Scripture, but sounds different notes in it. It is in this way that he sets us before the totality of true Beauty, of Truth itself.

 

In the first place, the text of Isaiah supplies the question that interested the Fathers of the Church, whether or not Christ was beautiful. Implicit here is the more radical question of whether beauty is true or whether it is not ugliness that leads us to the deepest truth of reality. Whoever believes in God, in the God who manifested himself, precisely in the altered appearance of Christ crucified as love "to the end" (Jn 13,1), knows that beauty is truth and truth beauty; but in the suffering Christ he also learns that the beauty of truth also embraces offence, pain, and even the dark mystery of death, and that this can only be found in accepting suffering, not in ignoring it.

 

Certainly, the consciousness that beauty has something to do with pain was also present in the Greek world. For example, let us take Plato's Phaedrus. Plato contemplates the encounter with beauty as the salutary emotional shock that makes man leave his shell and sparks his "enthusiasm" by attracting him to what is other than himself. Man, says Plato, has lost the original perfection that was conceived for him. He is now perennially searching for the healing primitive form. Nostalgia and longing impel him to pursue the quest; beauty prevents him from being content with just daily life. It causes him to suffer. In a Platonic sense, we could say that the arrow of nostalgia pierces man, wounds him and in this way gives him wings, lifts him upwards towards the transcendent. In his discourse in the Symposium, Aristophanes says that lovers do not know what they really want from each other. From the search for what is more than their pleasure, it is obvious that the souls of both are thirsting for something other than amorous pleasure. But the heart cannot express this "other" thing, "it has only a vague perception of what it truly wants and wonders about it as an enigma".

 

In the 14th century, in the book, "The Life in Christ" by the Byzantine theologian, Nicholas Cabasilas, we rediscover Plato's experience in which the ultimate object of nostalgia, transformed by the new Christian experience, continues to be nameless. Cabasilas says: "When men have a longing so great that it surpasses human nature and eagerly desire and are able to accomplish things beyond human thought, it is the Bridegroom who has smitten them with this longing. It is he who has sent a ray of his beauty into their eyes. The greatness of the wound already shows the arrow which has struck home, the longing indicates who has inflicted the wound" (cf. The Life in Christ, the Second Book, 15).

 

The beautiful wounds, but this is exactly how it summons man to his final destiny. What Plato said, and, more than 1,500 years later, Cabasilas, has nothing to do with superficial aestheticism and irrationalism or with the flight from clarity and the importance of reason. The beautiful is knowledge certainly, but, in a superior form, since it arouses man to the real greatness of the truth. Here Cabasilas has remained entirely Greek, since he puts knowledge first when he says, "In fact it is knowing that causes love and gives birth to it.... Since this knowledge is sometimes very ample and complete and at other times imperfect, it follows that the love potion has the same effect" (cf. ibid.).

 

He is not content to leave this assertion in general terms. In his characteristically rigorous thought, he distinguishes between two kinds of knowledge: knowledge through instruction which remains, so to speak, "second hand" and does not imply any direct contact with reality itself. The second type of knowledge, on the other hand, is knowledge through personal experience, through a direct relationship with the reality. "Therefore we do not love it to the extent that it is a worthy object of love, and since we have not perceived the very form itself we do not experience its proper effect".

 

True knowledge is being struck by the arrow of Beauty that wounds man, moved by reality, "how it is Christ himself who is present and in an ineffable way disposes and forms the souls of men" (cf. ibid.).

 

Being struck and overcome by the beauty of Christ is a more real, more profound knowledge than mere rational deduction. Of course we must not underrate the importance of theological reflection, of exact and precise theological thought; it remains absolutely necessary. But to move from here to disdain or to reject the impact produced by the response of the heart in the encounter with beauty as a true form of knowledge would impoverish us and dry up our faith and our theology. We must rediscover this form of knowledge; it is a pressing need of our time.

 

Starting with this concept, Hans Urs von Balthasar built his Opus magnum of Theological Aesthetics. Many of its details have passed into theological work, while his fundamental approach, in truth the essential element of the whole work, has not been so readily accepted. Of course, this is not just, or principally, a theological problem, but a problem of pastoral life, that has to foster the human person's encounter with the beauty of faith. All too often arguments fall on deaf ears because in our world too many contradictory arguments compete with one another, so much so that we are spontaneously reminded of the medieval theologians' description of reason, that it "has a wax nose': in other words, it can be pointed in any direction, if one is clever enough. Everything makes sense, is so convincing, whom should we trust?

 

The encounter with the beautiful can become the wound of the arrow that strikes the heart and in this way opens our eyes, so that later, from this experience, we take the criteria for judgement and can correctly evaluate the arguments. For me an unforgettable experience was the Bach concert that Leonard Bernstein conducted in Munich after the sudden death of Karl Richter. I was sitting next to the Lutheran Bishop Hanselmann. When the last note of one of the great Thomas-Kantor-Cantatas triumphantly faded away, we looked at each other spontaneously and right then we said: "Anyone who has heard this, knows that the faith is true". The music had such an extraordinary force of reality that we realized, no longer by deduction, but by the impact on our hearts, that it could not have originated from nothingness, but could only have come to be through the power of the Truth that became real in the composer's inspiration. Isn't the same thing evident when we allow ourselves to be moved by the icon of the Trinity of Rublëv? In the art of the icons, as in the great Western paintings of the Romanesque and Gothic period, the experience described by Cabasilas, starting with interiority, is visibly portrayed and can be shared.

 

In a rich way Pavel Evdokimov has brought to light the interior pathway that an icon establishes. An icon does not simply reproduce what can be perceived by the senses, but rather it presupposes, as he says, "a fasting of sight". Inner perception must free itself from the impression of the merely sensible, and in prayer and ascetical effort acquire a new and deeper capacity to see, to perform the passage from what is merely external to the profundity of reality, in such a way that the artist can see what the senses as such do not see, and what actually appears in what can be perceived: the splendour of the glory of God, the "glory of God shining on the face of Christ "(II Cor 4,6).

 

To admire the icons and the great masterpieces of Christian art in general, leads us on an inner way, a way of overcoming ourselves; thus in this purification of vision that is a purification of the heart, it reveals the beautiful to us, or at least a ray of it. In this way we are brought into contact with the power of the truth. I have often affirmed my conviction that the true apology of Christian faith, the most convincing demonstration of its truth against every denial, are the saints, and the beauty that the faith has generated. Today, for faith to grow, we must lead ourselves and the persons we meet to encounter the saints and to enter into contact with the Beautiful.

 

Now however, we still have to respond to an objection. We have already rejected the assumption which claims that what has just been said is a flight into the irrational, into mere aestheticism. Rather, it is the opposite that is true: this is the very way in which reason is freed from dullness and made ready to act.

 

Today another objection has even greater weight: the message of beauty is thrown into complete doubt by the power of falsehood, seduction, violence and evil. Can the beautiful be genuine, or, in the end, is it only an illusion? Isn't reality perhaps basically evil? The fear that in the end it is not the arrow of the beautiful that leads us to the truth, but that falsehood, all that is ugly and vulgar, may constitute the true "reality" has at all times caused people anguish. At present this has been expressed in the assertion that after Auschwitz it was no longer possible to write poetry; after Auschwitz it is no longer possible to speak of a God who is good. People wondered: where was God when the gas chambers were operating? This objection, which seemed reasonable enough before Auschwitz when one realized all the atrocities of history, shows that in any case a purely harmonious concept of beauty is not enough. It cannot stand up to the confrontation with the gravity of the questioning about God, truth and beauty. Apollo, who for Plato's Socrates was "the God" and the guarantor of unruffled beauty as "the truly divine" is absolutely no longer sufficient.

 

In this way, we return to the "two trumpets" of the Bible with which we started, to the paradox of being able to say of Christ: "You are the fairest of the children of men", and: "He had no beauty, no majesty to draw our eyes, no grace to make us delight in him". In the Passion of Christ the Greek aesthetic that deserves admiration for its perceived contact with the Divine but which remained inexpressible for it, in Christ's passion is not removed but overcome. The experience of the beautiful has received new depth and new realism. The One who is the Beauty itself let himself be slapped in the face, spat upon, crowned with thorns; the Shroud of Turin can help us imagine this in a realistic way. However, in his Face that is so disfigured, there appears the genuine, extreme beauty: the beauty of love that goes "to the very end"; for this reason it is revealed as greater than falsehood and violence. Whoever has perceived this beauty knows that truth, and not falsehood, is the real aspiration of the world. It is not the false that is "true", but indeed, the Truth. It is, as it were, a new trick of what is false to present itself as "truth" and to say to us: over and above me there is basically nothing, stop seeking or even loving the truth; in doing so you are on the wrong track. The icon of the crucified Christ sets us free from this deception that is so widespread today. However it imposes a condition: that we let ourselves be wounded by him, and that we believe in the Love who can risk setting aside his external beauty to proclaim, in this way, the truth of the beautiful.

 

Falsehood however has another strategem. A beauty that is deceptive and false, a dazzling beauty that does not bring human beings out of themselves to open them to the ecstasy of rising to the heights, but indeed locks them entirely into themselves. Such beauty does not reawaken a longing for the Ineffable, readiness for sacrifice, the abandonment of self, but instead stirs up the desire, the will for power, possession and pleasure. It is that type of experience of beauty of which Genesis speaks in the account of the Original Sin. Eve saw that the fruit of the tree was "beautiful" to eat and was "delightful to the eyes". The beautiful, as she experienced it, aroused in her a desire for possession, making her, as it were, turn in upon herself. Who would not recognize, for example, in advertising, the images made with supreme skill that are created to tempt the human being irresistibly, to make him want to grab everything and seek the passing satisfaction rather than be open to others.

 

So it is that Christian art today is caught between two fires (as perhaps it always has been): it must oppose the cult of the ugly, which says that everything beautiful is a deception and only the representation of what is crude, low and vulgar is the truth, the true illumination of knowledge. Or it has to counter the deceptive beauty that makes the human being seem diminished instead of making him great, and for this reason is false.

 

Is there anyone who does not know Dostoyevsky's often quoted sentence: "The Beautiful will save us"? However, people usually forget that Dostoyevsky is referring here to the redeeming Beauty of Christ. We must learn to see Him. If we know Him, not only in words, but if we are struck by the arrow of his paradoxical beauty, then we will truly know him, and know him not only because we have heard others speak about him. Then we will have found the beauty of Truth, of the Truth that redeems. Nothing can bring us into close contact with the beauty of Christ himself other than the world of beauty created by faith and light that shines out from the faces of the saints, through whom his own light becomes visible.

 

ADDRESS BY HIS HOLINESS POPE FRANCIS
TO THE MEMBERS OF THE “DIACONIE DE LA BEAUTÉ” ASSOCIATION

Clementine Hall
Thursday, February, 17, 2022


Dear friends, dear artists!

I am delighted to receive you and to extend a warm welcome to you in Rome. Thank you, Monsignor Le Gall, for taking the initiative to organise this meeting to mark the 10th anniversary of the “Diaconie de la Beauté”, and for your kind words. And I greet all of you, artists who, in different ways, seek to help and encourage the men and women of our time to take the via pulchritudinis.

The Holy Scriptures speak to us at length of the beauty of the universe and all that it contains, which, by analogy, points to the beauty of the Creator. They also remind us that each of us is called by nature to be a craftsman and guardian of that beauty. Artistic work, in a sense, complements the beauty of creation and, when inspired by faith, reveals more clearly to people the divine love that lies at its origin.

I give thanks for the work you have carried out over these ten years, for the love and passion with which you have placed the talents you have received from God at the service of your brothers and sisters, expressing, through the languages of art, precious messages for the faith and evangelisation.

Beauty is capable of creating communion, “because it unites God, humankind and creation in a single symphony; because it unites the past, the present and the future; because it draws different and distant peoples to the same place and involves them in the same vision” (Address to the members of the Board of the Arts at the Vatican Museum, 28 September 2018). A special characteristic of the artist is that they are not bound by time, for their art speaks to all ages. Nor are they bound by space, for beauty can touch that which is universal in everyone – especially the longing for God – crossing the boundaries of languages and cultures. If he is authentic, the artist is able to speak of God better than anyone else, to make people perceive his beauty and goodness, to “reach the human heart and make the truth and goodness of the Risen One shine forth within it” (Apostolic Exhortation *Evangelii gaudium*, 167).

As Saint John Paul II said in his Letter to Artists, which I invite you to reread carefully, ‘to convey the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Indeed, she must make the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God, perceptible and, as far as possible, fascinating. She must therefore translate into meaningful forms that which is in itself ineffable. Now, art possesses its own capacity to capture one aspect or another of the message, translating it into colours, forms and sounds that accompany the intuition of the viewer or listener”.

I therefore urge you, as you cultivate your art, to speak to the men and women of our time, always ensuring that they can understand it to some extent, for art that is incomprehensible and impenetrable fails in its purpose. Try to touch the very best that is within them. The Church is counting on you today to help our brothers and sisters to have a sensitive and compassionate heart, and a renewed, loving gaze upon the world and upon others.

In the difficult context the world is currently facing, where confusion and sadness sometimes seem to prevail, your mission is more necessary than ever, for beauty is always a source of joy; it brings us into contact with divine goodness. If there is beauty, it is because God is good and gives it to us. And this brings us joy, reassures us and does us good. Contact with ‘beauty always lifts us up; beauty takes us further’. Awakening and sustaining faith ‘is a path towards the Lord’ (General Audience, 5 January 2022).

I thank you for the work you do, for the joy you bring to the world through your works, and I encourage you, once again, to continue your service with love and skill, for the world needs beauty more than ever. May the Virgin Mary draw you ever deeper into the mystery of God, and may the Holy Spirit inspire you: do not forget to call upon him. I pray for you and bless you; please pray for me too. Thank you.

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

ADDRESS OF JOHN PAUL II
AT THE OPENING OF THE EXHIBITION
"PAUL VI, A LIGHT FOR ART"

 

Friday, April 23, 1999

 

Your Eminence,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate,
Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

With great joy I welcome all of you who are taking part in the inauguration of the exhibition "Paul VI, a light for art", which opened in the Cathedral Museum of Milan and is now being hosted by the Vatican Museums in this Charlemagne Wing. In particular, I thank Cardinal Edmund Casimir Szoka for his cordial words expressing the sentiments of everyone here.

 

This beautiful initiative, which begins today thanks to the generous efforts of many people, will make it possible for a few weeks to admire various works of art recalling my venerable Predecessor, the Servant of God Pope Paul VI, a little over 100 years since his birth and on the 25th anniversary of the foundation of the collection of modern religious art which he desired. These two events were recently commemorated with the exhibition Papst Paul VI und die Sammlung religioser Kunst des 20. Jahrhunderts, which opened in Würzburg in January 1998, continued in Paderborn and ended in Regensburg the following July.

 

This exhibition is meant to illustrate the unforgettable Pontiff's great love of art and the importance of art itself in his Petrine ministry. We need only think of the above-mentioned collection of modern religious art which opened on 23 June 1973. The arduous task of arranging over 700 works donated by artists and collectors in a few rooms of the Vatican Palace was resolved at the time by remodeling several areas which had previously served as storerooms or living quarters. The 55 rooms used for this purpose follow an itinerary laid out in the nucleus of the old residences of the Popes, from Nicholas III to Sixtus V. This itinerary extends from the Raphael Rooms in the Borgia Apartments, the residence of Alexander VI, decorated with frescoes by Pinturicchio and his school from 1492 to 1495, to the Sistine Chapel. As a result, historical splendour is combined with the fascination of art.

 

It is helpful here to recall that the opening of such an interesting collection sealed an initiative which began on 7 May 1964 when Paul VI wanted to meet a group of artists. On that occasion the reasons and causes, as he liked to say, of a "turbulent friendship" between the Church and artists were careful considered and summed up. He used very explicit words: "We must leave to your voices the free and powerful song of which you are capable" (Paul VI, Address to the Artists of Rome, 7 May 1964: AAS 56 [1964], 439-442).

 

Many artists, collectors, private and public organizations supported his request for a better understanding between the Church and art. Committees were set up in various countries, wisely coordinated by Mons. Pasquale Macchi, then his private secretary.

 

I thank the Lord for offering me the opportunity today to add my voice to my venerable Predecessor's testimony of respect, esteem and trust for the artists of the whole world. In fact, I have dedicated a special Letter to them, which is being published today. With it "I intend to follow the path of the fruitful dialogue between the Church and artists which has gone on unbroken through 2,000 years of history, and which still, at the threshold of the third millennium, offers rich promise for the future" (Letter to Artists, n. 1). This is a dialogue which does not simply respond to historical circumstances or functional needs, but finds its roots in the very essence of religious experience and artistic creation.

 

To all who "are passionately dedicated to the search for new 'epiphanies' of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world", I would like to renew the invitation of the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council: "Do not close your spirit to the breath of the divine Spirit!". The invitation becomes even more timely in the liturgical season we are celebrating. In fact, the imminence of Pentecost spurs us to open our hearts to the life-giving action of the Creator Spirit.

 

While it is true that the artist's genius can create outstanding works even without faith, it is still a fact that, if natural talent is combined with an interior, deeply lived communion with God, the message springing from it will be richer and more profound. This was true for the wonderful flourishing of medieval cathedrals; it was true for the works of Giotto, Fra Angelico, Michelangelo, for Dante's poetry and Manzoni's prose, for the musical compositions of Pierluigi da Palestrina and Johann Sebastian Bach, to mention a few.

 

In approaching artistic masterpieces from whatever era, the mind is prompted to open itself to the mysterious fascination of the Transcendent, because a mysterious and unexpected spark of the Divine is present in every genuine artistic expression.

 

Dear ladies and gentlemen, dear friends, every human being thirsts for the infinite, and art is one of the ways that lead him to it. My firm hope is that "your many different paths all lead to that infinite Ocean of beauty where wonder becomes awe, exhilaration, unspeakable joy" (Letter to Artists, n. 16).

 

May this exhibition achieve a twofold objective: to help people to understand better the value of art in the context of the new evangelization, and to highlight Pope Paul VI's important role in promoting artistic effort as a valuable contribution to spreading the Gospel.

 

With these sentiments, I cordially bless all of you here and everyone who helped organize such an interesting exhibition.

 

MESSAGE BY PAUL VI

ON THE OCCASION OF THE INAUGURATION

OF THE COLLECTION OF

MODERN RELIGIOUS ART IN THE VATICAN MUSEUMS

Saturday, June, 23, 1973.

 

 

Ladies and gentlemen,

 

You will see that this opening of a new collection of modern religious art in the Vatican immediately takes on the character of a sacred ceremony: praying and singing, we cross the threshold of this latest section of the Vatican Museums, recently created to house works of art which the expressive genius of our time has certainly produced without thinking of their present location, nor, at least for the majority of them, intending to assign them specifically to official religious worship.

 

Meanwhile, consider this: our journey begins in the Sistine Chapel, a place—if ever there was one—where religious art demonstrated its power, unfolding in its images that symphony of ideal grandeur and aesthetic beauty which still forms, and will continue to form—so long as the centuries spare its transitory material—one of the most evocative and inspiring spells of human civilisation. They set out from the Sistine Chapel, not only because of the location of the new Gallery—which is physically adjacent to the Sistine Chapel itself—but also because the idea has arisen to honour the art and the artists of our time, who have dedicated their work, freely and with dignity, to the religious. This theme, as everyone knows, arose precisely in this inspiring sanctuary, during a memorable ceremony, in response to the pressing question: is religious art the fruit of a bygone era of the human spirit, or is it—and can it also be—the fruit of our own modern age, in which the religious root seems to have lost so much of its magical, inspiring virtue?

 

In posing this question, we chose, from that very first, defining moment, the guiding principle which subsequently governed the composition of the collection we are now about to inaugurate; that is to say, we now intend to focus on artistic expressions from which a religious reference, intention or theme—freely conceived by the artist—is either tacitly implied or clearly stated, whilst we deliberately set aside those works which, whilst they are art and draw their name and inspiration from religious sources, are decidedly sacred, as they are intended and designated for sacred worship.

 

Well, we then ask ourselves collectively: does there exist today, precisely within the framework of our lived experience, a religious art—contemporary, modern, a child of our time and the twin of secular art—that still captivates and enchants the eye, and also the spirit of the people of our century? There was, indeed, a sudden, reassuring and positive response, though not without doubts and a sense of humiliation, since this response had to be limited to a few cases and a handful of names, certainly worthy of universal esteem, almost as if they were isolated; and in certain respects, veiled by a certain timidity, it shies away from addressing the magnificent traditions of the past, or the most accomplished manifestations of contemporary art.

 

‘Yes,’ we said at the time; even today we have artists capable of rising to the challenge of religious themes, and we have works of religious art—though not strictly sacred—which rightly speak for themselves; but where are the artists and works of this kind? How many are there? And the Church, ever the legitimate arbiter in judging what its religion entails, what does it think? What does it have to say on the matter? Two phenomena then came to pass, not without causing a certain unease in our minds; firstly: the Church was once the master of art, the cultivator and preserver of the past; its great tradition subsequently slowed and almost became sterile; where, for example, in this repository of its artistic glories from centuries past, is there a place for us, the moderns? Would the Church have nothing but museums—zealous guardians of the works of ancient artists and, therefore, splendid and magnificent cemeteries—to offer for our admiration and imitation? Has the Church come to a standstill in the now-extinct history of bygone times?

 

And secondly: if citizenship within the noble confines of the official Church could be called into question, even for the children of the Arts of our century, would the answer not be ‘no’? We, say these young people—still almost strangers to these privileged spaces—have come a long way, straying from the paths that seem to be the only ones leading to these doors: the paths of classical perfection, the paths where aesthetic beauty reigns, where the intuitive dignity of form prevails, where clear thought is expressed, albeit in a dramatic and romantic manner; the paths leading to the immediate understanding of others are no longer, at least in a certain sense, our paths; shall we never again enter this realm of Beauty, which conquers only through being beheld, of Truth, which receives its blissful attention only from the expert eye of faith, of Goodness, which only transcendent and universal reasons can sustain? It was thought that the philosophy of art no longer holds any valid guiding light for us. So what, then?

So then, we, the custodians of this earthly garden of religious art, have asked ourselves: which of its works, which of its values might still justify admission within these thresholds? This is the answer offered by this new collection which, by opening its doors to works of modern religious art, aims to highlight certain principles underlying the Church’s conception of religious art itself; it would take a great deal of time to discuss this; we merely mention it, if only to justify ourselves in the face of this new development.

Firstly, it is not true that only certain specific criteria from the art of bygone eras are granted free and exclusive entry here; secondly, it does not seem to us to be true that the guiding principles of contemporary art are marked solely by the imprint of madness, passion, and purely cerebral and arbitrary abstractionism; yes, the modern artist is subjective; he seeks the reasons for his work more within himself than outside him, but it is precisely for this reason that he is often eminently human and highly commendable. Many artists have replaced psychology with aesthetics; this is certainly an evolution—often dangerous and disconcerting—but one that is proving increasingly suitable for penetrating the sanctuary of the Spirit and being more fully appreciated by us, students and masters of the Spirit.

In any case, this Art, which springs more from within than from without, is a document that not only interests us but compels us to understand it; that is to say, to read within the soul of the Artist, or rather the contemporary soul, of which he, consciously or not, becomes an interpreter and a sensitive mirror. Let us go further: even within this soul—that of the spontaneously religious man (for we are all, to some extent, metaphysically religious)—an extremely original voice unfolds, at times with virginal candour, at others with extraordinary vigour. In other words, we say openly: there still exists, even in this arid and secularised world of ours—and one that is at times even disfigured by obscene and blasphemous desecrations—a prodigious capacity (behold the wonder we seek!) to express, beyond what is authentically human, the religious, the divine, the Christian.

Anyone who reflects on these reasons of ours—perhaps more pastoral than philosophical or aesthetic—will, we hope, welcome with reverence and sympathy the initiative we are launching today, humble yet proud that this is taking place in this House of ours, where Art resides. Great Art has had and continues to preserve its most illustrious works, yet certainly does not disdain, by virtue of its religious kinship, having contemporary Art at its side as its new sister.

Well then, the Gallery, which we today present to the curious or critical gaze of the public, has for the time being one overriding aim: to be documentary. Documentary – even more so than an exhibition of Art – of the modern Artist, who is, in his own way, a Prophet and a Poet, of the people of today, of their mindset, of modern society; and if our current artistic documentation bears witness to the fact that religious values are expressed freely and joyfully within it, we are happy and full of hope.

Perhaps not all visitors will share our joy to the same extent, but all will share in the hope, yes. For the hope arises spontaneously and is confirmed that, from this first exhibition of modern religious art, situated alongside— if not in direct comparison, with the surrounding exhibition of Vatican masterpieces, a new artistic tradition will emerge and the conviction will be strengthened in the hearts of the artists that the Catholic Church is still, and always will be, their admirer, supporter and protector; and that, by honouring the works exhibited here, she looks forward to the blossoming of a new springtime of post-conciliar religious art on the vast horizon of today’s world.

We feel it is our duty to thank all those who supported this initiative; and l

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

 

GREETING OF HIS HOLINESS POPE LEO XIV TO THE LOUISIANA PATRONS OF THE ARTS IN THE VATICAN MUSEUMS

October 7, 2026

 

 

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

 

Peace be with you.

 

Dear friends,

I am pleased to meet with you this morning and welcome you to the Vatican.  As Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, you are undoubtedly drawn to Rome by your love for art and beauty, and the desire to preserve humanity’s artistic and religious patrimony for the benefit of future generations.  But you also come today as pilgrims, moved to visit the sacred sites of Rome in order to ask for God’s grace and blessing, experience his mercy and find renewed strength in your daily journey of faith.  In a particular way, I hope that your time spent in prayer at the tombs of the Apostles will reinforce your bonds with the Successor of Peter and the Universal Church.

 

As you well know, Pope Saint Paul VI played an important role in the series of events that would eventually give rise to your Organization.  He once said that “this world in which we live needs beauty in order not to sink into despair.  It is beauty, like truth, which brings joy to the heart of man… unites generations and makes them share things in admiration” (Address to Artists at the Conclusion of the Second Vatican Council, 8 December 1965).  As Patrons, I trust that you have experienced firsthand that beauty possesses the power to awaken the noblest desires of the human heart, calling us beyond ourselves and opening our souls to the gratuity of God’s gifts.  It is in this context that I would like to thank you for your generous collaboration over the past decades in helping to maintain the art of the Vatican Museums.

 

In an age dominated by technology, in which efficiency and profit often take precedence, it is so important that we continue to cultivate a spirit of contemplation and allow time and space for beauty.  Such an attitude will greatly help humanity, especially young people, not only to discover the ability of art to uplift and reveal the depths of the human spirit and our openness to the divine, but also to realize that the gift of self is essential for authentic fulfilment.  Ultimately, contemplation presents a marvelous opportunity to encounter the God who is Beauty, whom Saint Augustine described as ever-ancient and ever-new, a Beauty that captivates and continuously draws all people to himself (cf. Confessions, X, 27; Jn 12:32).  Dear friends, as you continue your pilgrimage, I encourage you to open yourselves to this Beauty and consider ways of helping others to do the same.

 

In renewed gratitude and entrusting all of you, and your families, to the loving intercession of Our Lady of the Rosary, whose Feast we celebrate today, I willingly impart my Apostolic Blessing, which I extend to everyone associated with The Patrons of the Arts in the Vatican Museums, as a pledge of peace and joy in the Lord.

 

HOLY MASS WITH DEDICATION OF THE CHURCH
OF THE SAGRADA FAMILIA AND OF THE ALTAR

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Barcelona
Sunday, November 7, 2010

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters in the Lord,

 

“This day is holy to the Lord your God; do not mourn or weep. … The joy of the Lord is your strength” (Neh 8:9-11). With these words from the first reading that we have proclaimed, I wish to greet all of you taking part in this celebration. I extend an affectionate greeting to their Majesties the King and Queen of Spain who have graciously wished to be with us. I extend a thankful greeting to Cardinal Lluís Martínez Sistach, Archbishop of Barcelona, for his words of welcome and for his invitation to me to dedicate this Church of the Sagrada Familia, a magnificent achievement of engineering, art and faith. I also greet Cardinal Ricardo María Carles Gordó, Archbishop Emeritus of Barcelona, the other Cardinals present and my brother bishops, especially the auxiliary bishop of this local church, and the many priests, deacons, seminarians, religious men and women, and lay faithful taking part in this solemn ceremony. I also extend a respectful greeting to the national, regional and local authorities present, as well as to the members of other Christian communities, who share in our joy and our grateful praise of God.

 

Today marks an important step in a long history of hope, work and generosity that has gone on for more than a century. At this time I would like to mention each and every one of those who have made possible the joy that fills us today, from the promoters to the executors of this work, the architects and the workers, all who in one way or another have given their priceless contribution to the building of this edifice. We remember of course the man who was the soul and the artisan of this project, Antoni Gaudí, a creative architect and a practising Christian who kept the torch of his faith alight to the end of his life, a life lived in dignity and absolute austerity. This event is also in a certain sense the high point of the history of this land of Catalonia which, especially since the end of the nineteenth century, has given an abundance of saints and founders, martyrs and Christian poets. It is a history of holiness, artistic and poetic creation, born from the faith, which we gather and present to God today as an offering in this Eucharist.

 

The joy which I feel at presiding at this ceremony became all the greater when I learned that this shrine, since its beginnings, has had a special relationship with Saint Joseph. I have been moved above all by Gaudí’s confidence when, in the face of many difficulties, filled with trust in divine Providence, he would exclaim, “Saint Joseph will finish this church”. So it is significant that it is also being dedicated by a Pope whose baptismal name is Joseph.

 

What do we do when we dedicate this church? In the heart of the world, placed before God and mankind, with a humble and joyful act of faith, we raise up this massive material structure, fruit of nature and an immense achievement of human intelligence which gave birth to this work of art. It stands as a visible sign of the invisible God, to whose glory these spires rise like arrows pointing towards absolute light and to the One who is Light, Height and Beauty itself.

 

In this place, Gaudí desired to unify that inspiration which came to him from the three books which nourished him as a man, as a believer and as an architect: the book of nature, the book of sacred Scripture and the book of the liturgy. In this way he brought together the reality of the world and the history of salvation, as recounted in the Bible and made present in the liturgy. He made stones, trees and human life part of the church so that all creation might come together in praise of God, but at the same time he brought the sacred images outside so as to place before people the mystery of God revealed in the birth, passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In this way, he brilliantly helped to build our human consciousness, anchored in the world yet open to God, enlightened and sanctified by Christ. In this he accomplished one of the most important tasks of our times: overcoming the division between human consciousness and Christian consciousness, between living in this temporal world and being open to eternal life, between the beauty of things and God as beauty. Antoni Gaudí did this not with words but with stones, lines, planes, and points.

 

Indeed, beauty is one of mankind’s greatest needs; it is the root from which the branches of our peace and the fruits of our hope come forth. Beauty also reveals God because, like him, a work of beauty is pure gratuity; it calls us to freedom and draws us away from selfishness.

 

We have dedicated this sacred space to God, who revealed and gave himself to us in Christ so as to be definitively God among men. The revealed Word, the humanity of Christ and his Church are the three supreme expressions of his self-manifestation and self-giving to mankind. As says Saint Paul in the second reading: “Let each man take care how he builds. For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 3:10-11). The Lord Jesus is the stone which supports the weight of the world, which maintains the cohesion of the Church and brings together in ultimate unity all the achievements of mankind. In him, we have God’s word and presence and from him the Church receives her life, her teaching and her mission. The Church of herself is nothing; she is called to be the sign and instrument of Christ, in pure docility to his authority and in total service to his mandate. The one Christ is the foundation of the one Church. He is the rock on which our faith is built. Building on this faith, let us strive together to show the world the face of God who is love and the only one who can respond to our yearning for fulfilment. This is the great task before us: to show everyone that God is a God of peace not of violence, of freedom not of coercion, of harmony not of discord. In this sense, I consider that the dedication of this church of the Sagrada Familia is an event of great importance, at a time in which man claims to be able to build his life without God, as if God had nothing to say to him.

 

In this masterpiece, Gaudí shows us that God is the true measure of man; that the secret of authentic originality consists, as he himself said, in returning to one’s origin which is God. Gaudí, by opening his spirit to God, was capable of creating in this city a space of beauty, faith and hope which leads man to an encounter with him who is truth and beauty itself. The architect expressed his sentiments in the following words: “A church [is] the only thing worthy of representing the soul of a people, for religion is the most elevated reality in man”.

 

This affirmation of God brings with it the supreme affirmation and protection of the dignity of each and every man and woman: “Do you not know that you are God’s temple? … God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple” (1 Cor 3:16-17). Here we find joined together the truth and dignity of God and the truth and dignity of man. As we consecrate the altar of this church, which has Christ as its foundation, we are presenting to the world a God who is the friend of man and we invite men and women to become friends of God. This is what we are taught in the case of Zacchaeus, of whom today’s gospel speaks (Lk 19:1-10), if we allow God into our hearts and into our world, if we allow Christ to live in our hearts, we will not regret it: we will experience the joy of sharing his very life, as the object of his infinite love.

 

This church began as an initiative of the Association of the Friends of Saint Joseph, who wanted to dedicate it to the Holy Family of Nazareth. The home formed by Jesus, Mary and Joseph has always been regarded as a school of love, prayer and work. The promoters of this church wanted to set before the world love, work and service lived in the presence of God, as the Holy Family lived them. Life has changed greatly and with it enormous progress has been made in the technical, social and cultural spheres. We cannot simply remain content with these advances. Alongside them, there also need to be moral advances, such as in care, protection and assistance to families, inasmuch as the generous and indissoluble love of a man and a woman is the effective context and foundation of human life in its gestation, birth, growth and natural end. Only where love and faithfulness are present can true freedom come to birth and endure. For this reason the Church advocates adequate economic and social means so that women may find in the home and at work their full development, that men and women who contract marriage and form a family receive decisive support from the state, that life of children may be defended as sacred and inviolable from the moment of their conception, that the reality of birth be given due respect and receive juridical, social and legislative support. For this reason the Church resists every form of denial of human life and gives its support to everything that would promote the natural order in the sphere of the institution of the family.

 

As I contemplate with admiration this sacred space of marvellous beauty, of so much faith-filled history, I ask God that in the land of Catalonia new witnesses of holiness may rise up and flourish, and present to the world the great service that the Church can and must offer to humanity: to be an icon of divine beauty, a burning flame of charity, a path so that the world may believe in the One whom God has sent (cf. Jn 6:29).

 

Dear brothers and sisters, as I dedicate this splendid church, I implore the Lord of our lives that, from this altar, which will now be anointed with holy oil and upon which the sacrifice of the love of Christ will be consumed, there may be a flood of grace and charity upon the city of Barcelona and its people, and upon the whole world. May these fruitful waters fill with faith and apostolic vitality this archdiocesan Church, its pastors and its faithful.

 

[In Catalan:] Finally, I wish to commend to the loving protection of the Mother of God, Mary Most Holy, April Rose, Mother of Mercy, all who enter here and all who in word or deed, in silence and prayer, have made this possible this marvel of architecture. May Our Lady present to her divine Son the joys and tribulations of all who come in the future to this sacred place so that here, as the Church prays when dedicating religious buildings, the poor may find mercy, the oppressed true freedom and all men may take on the dignity of the children of God. Amen.

 

CELEBRATION OF THE THE UNVEILING OF THE RESTORATIONS 
OF MICHELANGELO'S FRESCOS IN THE SISTINE CHAPEL 

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II 

April, 8, 1994

 

"We believe in one God, the Father, the Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen."

 

Today we are entering the Sistine Chapel to admire the marvellously restored frescoes. They are the works of the greatest Renaissance masters: first and foremost Michelangelo, but also Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Pinturicchio and others. At the end of this delicate work of restoration, I would like to thank all of you present, and particularly those who in various ways have contributed to such a noble undertaking. This is a priceless cultural and universal heritage. This is confirmed by the countless pilgrims from every nation in the world who come to admire the work of the supreme masters and to recognize in this Chapel a sort of wonderful synthesis of painting.

 

Lovers of art and beauty have then given proof of their sensitivity by their concrete and remarkable contribution towards the restoration of the Chapel's original bright colours. It was also possible to rely on the work of experts with a thorough knowledge of art restoration work, who made use of the most advanced and reliable technologies in order to carry out their interventions. The Holy See expresses to all of them its cordial gratitude for the splendid results they have achieved.

 

The frescoes that we contemplate here introduce us to the world of Revelation. The truths of our faith speak to us here from all sides. From them the human genius has drawn its inspiration, committing itself to portraying them in forms of unparalleled beauty. This is why the Last Judgement above all awakens within us the keen desire to profess our faith in God, Creator of all things seen and unseen. And at the same time, it stimulates us to reassert our adherence to the risen Christ, who will come again on the Last Day as the supreme Judge of the living and the dead. Before this masterpiece we confess Christ, King of the ages, whose kingdom will have no end.

 

It is precisely this eternal Son to whom the Father has entrusted the cause of human redemption, who speaks to us in the dramatic setting of the Last Judgement. We are in front of an extraordinary Christ. He is endowed with an ancient beauty that is somehow detached from the traditional pictorial model. In the great fresco he strikingly reveals the whole mystery of his glory linked to the Resurrection. To be gathered here during the Easter Octave is extremely propitious. More especially we stand before the glory of Christ's humanity. In fact, he will return in his humanity to judge the living and the dead, penetrating the depths of the human conscience and revealing the power of his redemption. For this reason we find his Mother, the "Alma socia Redemptoris' next to him. Christ in the history of humanity is the true cornerstone, of whom the Psalmist says: "the stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone" (Ps 117 [118]:22). This stone therefore cannot be rejected. As the only Mediator between God and men, from the Sistine Chapel Christ expresses in himself the whole mystery of the visibility of the Invisible.

 

The frescoes therefore are at the centre of the theological question. The Old Testament excluded any kind of representational image of the invisible Creator. Such in fact, was the command Moses received from God on Mount Sinai (cf Ex 20:4), since there was the risk that the people, who were inclined to idolatry, might choose to worship an image of God who is unimaginable, since he surpasses all human imagination and understanding. The Old Testament was faithful to this tradition, not allowing any image of the Living God either in the houses of prayer or in the Temple of Jerusalem. The members of the Muslim religion who believe in an invisible, omnipotent and merciful Creator and judge of every creature are inspired by a similar tradition.

 

But God himself meets the needs of man who nurtures in his heart an ardent desire to be able to see him. Did not Abraham welcome the same invisible God in the wonderful visit of the three mysterious personages? "Tres vidit et Unum adoravit" (cf. Gn 18:1-14). Before these three people, Abraham, the father of our faith, had a deep experience of the presence of the One and Only. This meeting was to become the subject of the superb icon by Andrei Rublev, the apex of Russian painting. Rublev was one of those holy artists whose creativity was the fruit of profound contemplation, prayer and fasting. The soul's gratitude to the invisible God who grants man the power to represent him in a visible way was expressed through their work.

 

All this was assimilated by the Second Council of Nicea, the last council of the undivided Church, which definitively rejected the position of the iconoclasts, confirming the legitimacy of the tradition of expressing the faith through artistic works. Consequently the icon is not only a work of pictorial art. It is, in a certain sense, like a sacrament of Christian life, since in it the mystery of the incarnation becomes present. In it the Mystery of the Word made flesh is reflected in a way that is ever new, and man - the author and at the same time participant - is gladdened by the sight of the Invisible.

 

Was it not Christ himself who laid the foundations of this spiritual joy? "Master, show us the Father and that will be enough for us" Philip asked in the Upper Room, on the eve of Christ's Passion. And Jesus replied.: "Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father ... Do you not believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me?" (Jn 14:8-10). Christ is the visible sign of the invisible God. Through him the Father penetrates the whole of creation and the invisible God makes himself present among us and communicates with us, just as the three Figures described in the Bible sat at table and ate with Abraham.

 

Did not Michelangelo draw precise conclusions from Christ's words: "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father?". He had the courage to admire this Father with his own eyes at the very moment when he offered his creating "fiat" and called the first man into existence. Adam was created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gn 1:26). While the eternal Word is the invisible icon of the Father, the man Adam is his visible icon. Michelangelo strove in every way to restore to Adam's presence his corporeity, the features of ancient beauty. With great daring he even transferred this visible and corporal beauty to the Creator himself. We are probably witnesses to an extraordinary piece of artistic audacity, since it is impossible to impose the likeness proper to man on the invisible God. Would this not be blasphemy? It is difficult however, not to recognize in the visible and humanized Creator, God clad in infinite majesty. Indeed, as far as the image with its intrinsic limits permits, everything which could be expressed has been expressed here. The majesty of the Creator, like that of the Judge, speaks of divine grandeur: a moving and univocal word just as, in a different way, the Pietà in St Peter's Basilica and the Moses in the Basilica of St Peter in Chains are univocal.

In the human expression of the divine mysteries is not the "kenosis" necessary as a consummation of what is corporeal and visible? Such a consummation has forcefully entered the tradition of the Eastern Christian icons. The body is certainly the "kenosis" of God. In fact we read in St Paul that Christ "emptied himself, taking the form of a slave" (Phil 2:7). If it is true that the body represents the kenosis of God and that in the artistic representation of the divine mysteries the great humility of the body must be expressed so that what is divine can be revealed, it is also true that God is the source of the integral beauty of the body.

 

It seems that Michelangelo, in his own way, allowed himself to be guided by the evocative words of the Book of Genesis which, as regards the creation of the human being, male and female, reveals: "The man and his wife were both naked, yet they felt no shame" (Gn 2:25). The Sistine Chapel is precisely - if one may say so - the sanctuary of the theology of the human body. In witnessing to the beauty of man created by God as male and female, it also expresses in a certain way, the hope of a world transfigured, the world inaugurated by the Risen Christ, and even before by Christ on Mount Tabor. We know that the Transfiguration is one of the main sources of Eastern devotion; it is an eloquent book for mystics, just as for St Francis Christ crucified contemplated on the mountain of La Verna was an open book.

 

If we are dazzled as we contemplate the Last Judgement by its splendour and its terror, admiring on the one hand the glorified bodies and on the other those condemned to eternal damnation, we understand too that the whole composition is deeply penetrated by a unique light and by a single artistic logic: the light and the logic of faith that the Church proclaims, confessing: "We believe in one God... maker of heaven and earth, of all things seen and unseen". On the basis of this logic in the context of the light that comes from God, the human body also keeps its splendour and its dignity. If it is removed from this dimension, it becomes in some way an object, which depreciates very easily, since only before the eyes of God can the human body remain naked and unclothed, and keep its splendour and its beauty intact.

 

The Sistine Chapel is the place which contains the memory of a particular day in the life of every Pope. For me, it was October 16, 1978. Precisely here, in this holy place, the Cardinals gather to await the manifestation of God's will as regards the Successor of St Peter. Here I heard from the mouth of my former Rector, Maximilien de Furstenberg, the significant words: "Magister adest et vocat te". In this place, Stefan Wyszynski, the Cardinal Primate of Poland, said to me: "If they elect you, I beg you not to refuse". And here, in a spirit of obedience to Christ and entrusting myself to his Mother, I accepted the election that issued from the Conclave, declaring to the Cardinal Camerlengo, Jean Villot, my availability to serve the Church. Thus once again the Sistine Chapel became for the entire Catholic community the place for the action of the Holy Spirit who appoints the Bishops in the Church, and in particular the one who is to become Bishop of Rome and Successor of Peter.

 

Celebrating the sacrifice of the Mass today in this very Chapel, in the 16th year of my service to the Apostolic See, I pray the Spirit of the Lord to be ever present and active within the Church. l pray that he may conduct her joyously into the third millennium.

 

I invoke Christ, the Lord of history, so that he may be with every one of us to the end of the world, as he himself promised.- "Ego vobiscum sum omnibus diebus usque ad consummationem saeculi" (Mt 28:20).

 

FIFTH CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF MICHELANGELO
HOMILY BY PAUL VI
Sunday, February, 29,1976


Dear children, fellow artists and lovers of art,

For the third time during our pontificate, you have been invited to gather, and today for an event which we consider to be of great significance. The first meeting in the Sistine Chapel was intended to express a desire for dialogue, or rather, the resumption of a conversation leading towards friendship and a renewed communion of feelings and thoughts. At the second gathering, the main protagonists were you, artists and art lovers, with paintings and sculptures intended for the Vatican Museums’ Collection of Contemporary Religious Art, a testimony to your sincere commitment to our expectations and hopes. Today we gather in the solemn and reverent atmosphere of a liturgical celebration intended to commemorate with due dignity the fifth centenary of Michelangelo’s birth.

The sacred rite is being celebrated beneath the gigantic and majestic vaults of Michelangelo’s dome. No place seems more fitting to capture the significance and meaning of this celebration. Here, everything speaks of Michelangelo; the very mass of the building itself—powerful and elegant, majestic and sacred—already places our spirits in an exalted connection, in humble comparison, and in grateful veneration of the incomparable artist. Here, more than ever, the soul feels the urge to soar upwards, towards something that transcends man himself and his history, in intimate and blissful communion with God, driven by the very same desire as Michelangelo’s, who longed to emerge from the terrible storm into a sweet calm.

It is therefore with great respect that, on this solemn occasion, we approach this colossal figure of human genius; with the respect due to such a sublime representative of the very highest aspects of his expressive power, of his capacity to act as an intermediary for invisible realities, in the supreme greatness of his mission, as in so many other expressions of his vocation, a seer of the arcane beauty found in the revealed proportions of things and their innate measures, and especially in the forms of man, created in the image and likeness of God (cf. Gen 1:27). The function of all art,’ said our predecessor Pius XII, of blessed memory, ‘consists in breaking through the narrow and oppressive confines of the finite, in which man is immersed whilst he lives here below, and in opening, as it were, a window to his spirit which yearns for the infinite’ (Pius XII, Address of 8 April 1952).

Herein lies the unmistakable hallmark of Michelangelo’s artistic genius and the relevance of his message today. A master for every generation in an art form which, whilst captivated by humanistic values to the point of embracing pagan forms of expression, nevertheless draws its highest and most genuine inspiration from religious values, Michelangelo sought not only to liberate the image from matter, the figure from stone, the idea from the sketch, but he also strove, through marvellous, evocative forms, to reveal to us the truest aspects of human dignity, the sacredness of life, and the mysterious and even awe-inspiring beauty of the Christian conception.

We all like to pause and contemplate the artist absorbed in his creations, alive within the circle of his characters’ human features, emulating the ancients in the titanic effort to idealise human stature and in the ecstasy of equalling Hellenic perfection. But what we wish to emphasise most at this moment is the coherence and the magnificent creative power of so many works, in which the fundamental theme—God and man—is continually set in opposition. Meditating upon and contemplating the mystery of the living God—Creator, Redeemer, Judge—Michelangelo defined the destiny of all human existence around the adorable figure of Christ.

At this point, our thoughts are drawn to the enchanting figures of Michelangelo’s most famous sculptures, beginning with the Virgin—an incredible achievement for a young man not yet twenty-five years old—who now watches over, sorrowful and merciful, at the doors of this basilica. With this Pietà, remarks Papini (G. PAPINI, *Vita di Michelangelo*, p. 435), not only does the young genius of Michelangelo assert himself with victorious splendour before the eyes of all, but modern Christian sculpture is born—a miraculous synthesis of Hellenic perfection and medieval spirituality. And then there are the other famous and colossal works that define this great sculptor, from the youthful athlete that is the Florentine David, to the giant, frowning Moses at San Pietro in Vincoli, via the weeping Rondanini Pietà, and so on…

 

And one’s gaze lingers on the revelation—not a new one, but here unsurpassed—of Michelangelo the painter, in the Sistine Chapel, in that sanctuary of art which, with its powerful compendium of human history summarised in Christ, expresses in the most sublime manner the religious grandeur of Michelangelo’s art. We like to imagine the artist wandering through the solemn architectural spaces that witnessed him over many years, at different stages of his life and during successive periods of his artistic activity, on the scaffolding, in the company of his vast pictorial poem, in which, as in Dante’s poem, heaven and earth collaborated. Anyone observing these pictorial sequences wonders what connection this host of vigorous figures might have with us: we come several centuries later, and both society and the Christian world face problems very different from those of that time. Nevertheless, the Sistine Chapel offers us the story of a struggle and a conquest, almost a world in the making, where the children of light, by their sacramental nature, fight valiantly, without tiring, for the triumph of truth.

Here, more than ever, the forms are directly linked to religious ideas. We may pause in admiration before the multitude in the Sistine Chapel, brought to life by Michelangelo’s genius, but we cannot fail to hear the message, so clearly discernible in the posture of the figures and the expression on their faces: there are the angels, the prophets, the apostles, the pontiffs, the martyrs, the confessors of the faith, and the world of the sibyls. The presence of God reigns supreme—a just and merciful God who offers fallen humanity the help of redemption for a new life. The unifying thread of this immense scene is the Bible, whose sacred values emerge through the images which, with their figurative language, add a poetic and prophetic dimension to the exegesis of the sacred text.

Michelangelo is the architect, the demiurge, of this great religious sermon which strikes us—no less than it did the people of his time—as marvellous for the audacity of its iconographic approach and for its expressive power. No human word can stir such emotion, or prompt such reflection and meditation, as the representation Buonarroti has given of these truths. The Sistine Chapel, with its ‘Last Judgement’, thus becomes an open book for scholars and the uneducated, for the faithful and non-believers alike, as well as an effective call to the people of God to continue living out the certainties of the Gospel, so as not to be tossed about like children by every wind of doctrine through the cunning of men (Eph. 4: 14–15). Our liturgical celebration is intended as a testimony of gratitude which, after God, is directed towards Michelangelo for the help he himself has given to our prayer, encouraging us through his vision of art to rise towards the divine, just as the majestic dome conceived by his genius rises to the heavens, beneath which, together with so many souls, we sing the Creed and the hymns of our faith.

And now, fellow artists and lovers of art present here, at such a solemn and evocative moment, our thoughts turn especially to you. The example set by Michelangelo is a lesson that must continue to resonate in our own day, both because of the dignity of your mission and because of the joy of a new springtime for Christian art which, spurred on by the Second Vatican Council, is heralded as rich in promise within the Church. And this call strikes us as all the more urgent and timely given that false principles, inspired by a conception of life devoid of higher hope, threaten to cause art to fall short of its sublime tasks. If art, according to Dante’s sculptural definition, is almost the grandson of God, it needs to draw closer to Him, to know Him and to love Him in a constant endeavour towards purification and self-surrender.

Anyone familiar with Michelangelo’s life knows full well that, towards the twilight of his long life (he died aged 89 in 1564), the artist’s restless and visionary spirit was plagued by a tormented thought, which did not paralyse his hand—ever armed with the chisel— but which did shake his judgement of value regarding nothing less than art—his art—as if it were a futile endeavour, an obstacle to his salvation. The Great One’s final sad and troubled thought, yet a wise one: he saw that art, however majestic and sublime it may be, is not, within the framework of human existence, an end in itself; it is, and must be, a ladder leading upwards; it matters only insofar as it leads to the supreme summit of our lives, to God. Do you recall his solemn words, which the poem (perhaps from 1555?) renders even more expressive? Neither painting nor sculpture will be anything more than stillness / the soul turned towards divine love / which opened its arms, outstretched on the cross, to welcome us (G. PAPINI, Vita di Michelangelo, p. 999).

In other words, art – art in particular – like every human activity, must strive towards sublimation; like music, like poetry, like work, like thought, like prayer, it must be directed towards the higher realms. That is why Michelangelo reminds you how much faith helps the artist, who finds in it a constant stimulus to better himself, to express himself more fully, and to fuse his experiences into those magnificent syntheses, of which the history of art, at its highest moments, has given us incomparable examples. Only in this way, as your most exalted mission demands, will you know how to place yourselves in the noble and conscious service of humankind, which continually needs to be helped and guided to think well, feel well and live well. By extending to them a brotherly hand that lifts them up to love all that is true, pure, just, holy and lovely (Phil. 4:8), you will have contributed to the work of peace, and the God of peace will be with you (ibid.).

 

With this paternal wish of ours, receive our Apostolic Blessing.

 

Translated with DeepL.com (free version)

ENCUENTRO CON LOS ARTISTAS

DISCURSO DEL SANTO PADRE BENEDICTO XVI

Capilla Sixtina
Sábado 21 de noviembre de 2009

 

 

Señores cardenales;
venerados hermanos en el episcopado y en el sacerdocio;
ilustres artistas;
señoras y señores:

 

        Con gran alegría os acojo en este lugar solemne y rico de arte y de recuerdos. A todos y cada uno dirijo mi cordial saludo, y os agradezco que hayáis aceptado mi invitación. Con este encuentro deseo expresar y renovar la amistad de la Iglesia con el mundo del arte, una amistad consolidada en el tiempo, puesto que el cristianismo, desde sus orígenes, ha comprendido bien el valor de las artes y ha utilizado sabiamente sus multiformes lenguajes para comunicar su mensaje inmutable de salvación. Es preciso promover y sostener continuamente esta amistad, para que sea auténtica y fecunda, adecuada a los tiempos y tenga en cuenta las situaciones y los cambios sociales y culturales.

 

Este es el motivo de nuestra cita. Agradezco de corazón a monseñor Gianfranco Ravasi, presidente del Consejo pontificio para la cultura y de la Comisión pontificia para los bienes culturales de la Iglesia, que lo haya promovido y preparado, junto con sus colaboradores, y le agradezco también las palabras que me acaba de dirigir. Saludo a los señores cardenales, a los obispos, a los sacerdotes y a las ilustres personalidades presentes. Doy las gracias también a la Capilla musical pontificia Sixtina que acompaña este significativo momento. Los protagonistas de este encuentro sois vosotros, queridos e ilustres artistas, pertenecientes a países, culturas y religiones distintas, quizá también alejados de las experiencias religiosas, pero deseosos de mantener viva una comunicación con la Iglesia católica y de no reducir los horizontes de la existencia a la mera materialidad, a una visión limitada y banal. Vosotros representáis al variado mundo de las artes y, precisamente por esto, a través de vosotros quiero hacer llegar a todos los artistas mi invitación a la amistad, al diálogo y a la colaboración.

 

        Algunas circunstancias significativas enriquecen este momento. Recordamos el décimo aniversario de la Carta a los artistas de mi venerado predecesor, el siervo de Dios Juan Pablo II. Por primera vez, en la víspera del gran jubileo del año 2000, este Romano Pontífice, también él artista, escribió directamente a los artistas con la solemnidad de un documento papal y el tono amistoso de una conversación entre "los que —como reza el encabezamiento— con apasionada entrega buscan nuevas "epifanías" de la belleza". El mismo Papa, hace veinticinco años, había proclamado patrono de los artistas al beato Angélico, presentándolo como un modelo de perfecta sintonía entre fe y arte. Pienso también en el 7 de mayo de 1964, hace cuarenta y cinco años, cuando en este mismo lugar se realizaba un acontecimiento histórico, que el Papa Pablo VI deseó intensamente para reafirmar la amistad entre la Iglesia y las artes.

 

Las palabras que pronunció en aquella circunstancia siguen resonando hoy bajo la bóveda de esta Capilla Sixtina, tocando el corazón y el intelecto. "Os necesitamos —dijo—. Nuestro ministerio necesita vuestra colaboración. Porque, como sabéis, nuestro ministerio es predicar y hacer accesible y comprensible, más aún, conmovedor, el mundo del espíritu, de lo invisible, de lo inefable, de Dios. Y en esta operación... vosotros sois maestros. Es vuestro oficio, vuestra misión; y vuestro arte consiste en descubrir los tesoros del cielo del espíritu y revestirlos de palabra, de colores, de formas, de accesibilidad" (Insegnamenti II, [1964], 313). La estima de Pablo VI por los artistas era tan grande que lo impulsó a formular expresiones realmente atrevidas: "Si nos faltara vuestra ayuda —proseguía—, el ministerio sería balbuciente e inseguro y necesitaría hacer un esfuerzo, diríamos, para ser él mismo artístico, es más, para ser profético. Para alcanzar la fuerza de expresión lírica de la belleza intuitiva, necesitaría hacer coincidir el sacerdocio con el arte" (ib., 314). En esa circunstancia, Pablo VI asumió el compromiso de "restablecer la amistad entre la Iglesia y los artistas", y les pidió que aceptaran y compartieran ese compromiso, analizando con seriedad y objetividad los motivos que habían turbado esa relación, y asumiendo cada uno, con valentía y pasión, la responsabilidad de un renovado itinerario de conocimiento y de diálogo, profundo, con vistas a un auténtico "renacimiento" del arte, en el contexto de un nuevo humanismo.

 

        Ese histórico encuentro, como decía, tuvo lugar aquí, en este santuario de fe y de creatividad humana. Por lo tanto, no es una casualidad que nos encontremos precisamente en este lugar, precioso por su arquitectura y por sus dimensiones simbólicas, pero más aún por los frescos que lo hacen inconfundible, comenzando por las obras maestras de Perugino y Botticelli, Ghirlandaio y Cosimo Rosselli, Luca Signorelli y otros, hasta llegar a las Historias del Génesis y al Juicio universal, obras excelsas de Miguel Ángel Buonarroti, que dejó aquí una de las creaciones más extraordinarias de toda la historia del arte. También aquí ha resonado a menudo el lenguaje universal de la música, gracias al genio de grandes músicos, que pusieron su arte al servicio de la liturgia, ayudando al alma a elevarse a Dios. Al mismo tiempo, la Capilla Sixtina es un cofre singular de recuerdos, ya que constituye el escenario, solemne y austero, de acontecimientos que marcan la historia de la Iglesia y de la humanidad. Aquí como sabéis, el Colegio de los cardenales elige al Papa; aquí viví también yo, con trepidación y confianza absoluta en el Señor, el inolvidable momento de mi elección como Sucesor del Apóstol Pedro.

 

        Queridos amigos, dejemos que estos frescos nos hablen hoy, atrayéndonos hacia la meta última de la historia humana. El Juicio universal, que podéis ver majestuoso a mis espaldas, recuerda que la historia de la humanidad es movimiento y ascensión, es tensión inexhausta hacia la plenitud, hacia la felicidad última, hacia un horizonte que siempre supera el presente mientras lo cruza. Pero con su dramatismo, este fresco también nos pone a la vista el peligro de la caída definitiva del hombre, una amenaza que se cierne sobre la humanidad cuando se deja seducir por las fuerzas del mal. El fresco lanza un fuerte grito profético contra el mal, contra toda forma de injusticia. Sin embargo, para los creyentes Cristo resucitado es el camino, la verdad y la vida; para quien lo sigue fielmente es la puerta que introduce en el "cara a cara", en la visión de Dios de la que brota ya sin limitaciones la felicidad plena y definitiva. Miguel Ángel ofrece así a nuestra vista el Alfa y la Omega, el Principio y el Fin de la historia, y nos invita a recorrer con alegría, valentía y esperanza el itinerario de la vida. Así pues, la dramática belleza de la pintura de Miguel Ángel, con sus colores y sus formas, se hace anuncio de esperanza, invitación apremiante a elevar la mirada hacia el horizonte último.

 

El vínculo profundo entre belleza y esperanza constituía también el núcleo fundamental del sugestivo Mensaje que Pablo VI dirigió a los artistas al clausurar el concilio ecuménico Vaticano II, el 8 de diciembre de 1965: "A todos vosotros —proclamó solemnemente— la Iglesia del Concilio dice por nuestra voz: si sois los amigos del arte verdadero, vosotros sois nuestros amigos" (Concilio Vaticano II. Constituciones. Decretos. Declaraciones, BAC 1968, p. 841). Y añadió: "Este mundo en que vivimos tiene necesidad de la belleza para no caer en la desesperanza. La belleza, como la verdad, es lo que pone la alegría en el corazón de los hombres; es el fruto precioso que resiste a la usura del tiempo, que une las generaciones y las hace comunicarse en la admiración. Y todo ello por vuestras manos... Recordad que sois los guardianes de la belleza en el mundo" (ib.).

 

        Lamentablemente, el momento actual no sólo está marcado por fenómenos negativos a nivel social y económico, sino también por una esperanza cada vez más débil, por cierta desconfianza en las relaciones humanas, de manera que aumentan los signos de resignación, de agresividad y de desesperación. Además, el mundo en que vivimos corre el riesgo de cambiar su rostro a causa de la acción no siempre sensata del hombre, que, en lugar de cultivar su belleza, explota sin conciencia los recursos del planeta en beneficio de pocos y a menudo daña sus maravillas naturales. ¿Qué puede volver a dar entusiasmo y confianza, qué puede alentar al espíritu humano a encontrar de nuevo el camino, a levantar la mirada hacia el horizonte, a soñar con una vida digna de su vocación, sino la belleza? Vosotros, queridos artistas, sabéis bien que la experiencia de la belleza, de la belleza auténtica, no efímera ni superficial, no es algo accesorio o secundario en la búsqueda del sentido y de la felicidad, porque esa experiencia no aleja de la realidad, sino, al contrario, lleva a una confrontación abierta con la vida diaria, para liberarla de la oscuridad y trasfigurarla, a fin de hacerla luminosa y bella.

 

        Una función esencial de la verdadera belleza, que ya puso de relieve Platón, consiste en dar al hombre una saludable "sacudida", que lo hace salir de sí mismo, lo arranca de la resignación, del acomodamiento del día a día e incluso lo hace sufrir, como un dardo que lo hiere, pero precisamente de este modo lo "despierta" y le vuelve a abrir los ojos del corazón y de la mente, dándole alas e impulsándolo hacia lo alto. La expresión de Dostoievski que voy a citar es sin duda atrevida y paradójica, pero invita a reflexionar: "La humanidad puede vivir —dice— sin la ciencia, puede vivir sin pan, pero nunca podría vivir sin la belleza, porque ya no habría motivo para estar en el mundo. Todo el secreto está aquí, toda la historia está aquí". En la misma línea dice el pintor Georges Braque: "El arte está hecho para turbar, mientras que la ciencia tranquiliza". La belleza impresiona, pero precisamente así recuerda al hombre su destino último, lo pone de nuevo en marcha, lo llena de nueva esperanza, le da la valentía para vivir a fondo el don único de la existencia. La búsqueda de la belleza de la que hablo, evidentemente no consiste en una fuga hacia lo irracional o en el mero esteticismo.

 

        Con demasiada frecuencia, sin embargo, la belleza que se promociona es ilusoria y falaz, superficial y deslumbrante hasta el aturdimiento y, en lugar de hacer que los hombres salgan de sí mismos y se abran a horizontes de verdadera libertad atrayéndolos hacia lo alto, los encierra en sí mismos y los hace todavía más esclavos, privados de esperanza y de alegría. Se trata de una belleza seductora pero hipócrita, que vuelve a despertar el afán, la voluntad de poder, de poseer, de dominar al otro, y que se trasforma, muy pronto, en lo contrario, asumiendo los rostros de la obscenidad, de la trasgresión o de la provocación fin en sí misma. La belleza auténtica, en cambio, abre el corazón humano a la nostalgia, al deseo profundo de conocer, de amar, de ir hacia el Otro, hacia el más allá. Si aceptamos que la belleza nos toque íntimamente, nos hiera, nos abra los ojos, redescubrimos la alegría de la visión, de la capacidad de captar el sentido profundo de nuestra existencia, el Misterio del que formamos parte y que nos puede dar la plenitud, la felicidad, la pasión del compromiso diario.

 

Juan Pablo II, en la Carta a los artistas, cita al respecto este verso de un poeta polaco, Cyprian Norwid: "La belleza sirve para entusiasmar en el trabajo; el trabajo, para resurgir" (n. 3). Y más adelante añade: "En cuanto búsqueda de la belleza, fruto de una imaginación que va más allá de lo cotidiano, es por su naturaleza una especie de llamada al Misterio. Incluso cuando escudriña las profundidades más oscuras del alma o los aspectos más desconcertantes del mal, el artista se hace, de algún modo, voz de la expectativa universal de redención" (n. 10). Y en la conclusión afirma: "La belleza es clave del misterio y llamada a lo trascendente" (n. 16).

 

        Estas últimas expresiones nos impulsan a dar un paso adelante en nuestra reflexión. La belleza, desde la que se manifiesta en el cosmos y en la naturaleza hasta la que se expresa mediante las creaciones artísticas, precisamente por su característica de abrir y ensanchar los horizontes de la conciencia humana, de remitirla más allá de sí misma, de hacer que se asome a la inmensidad del Infinito, puede convertirse en un camino hacia lo trascendente, hacia el Misterio último, hacia Dios. El arte, en todas sus expresiones, cuando se confronta con los grandes interrogantes de la existencia, con los temas fundamentales de los que deriva el sentido de la vida, puede asumir un valor religioso y transformarse en un camino de profunda reflexión interior y de espiritualidad. Una prueba de esta afinidad, de esta sintonía entre el camino de fe y el itinerario artístico, es el número incalculable de obras de arte que tienen como protagonistas a los personajes, las historias, los símbolos de esa inmensa reserva de "figuras" —en sentido lato— que es la Biblia, la Sagrada Escritura. Las grandes narraciones bíblicas, los temas, las imágenes, las parábolas han inspirado innumerables obras maestras en todos los sectores de las artes, y han hablado al corazón de todas las generaciones de creyentes mediante las obras de la artesanía y del arte local, no menos elocuentes y cautivadoras.

 

        A este propósito se habla de una via pulchritudinis, un camino de la belleza que constituye al mismo tiempo un recorrido artístico, estético, y un itinerario de fe, de búsqueda teológica. El teólogo Hans Urs von Balthasar abre su gran obra titulada "Gloria. Una estética teológica" con estas sugestivas expresiones: "Nuestra palabra inicial se llama belleza. La belleza es la última palabra a la que puede llegar el intelecto reflexivo, ya que es la aureola de resplandor imborrable que rodea a la estrella de la verdad y del bien, y su indisociable unión" (Gloria. Una estética teológica, Ediciones Encuentro, Madrid 1985, p. 22) . Observa también: "Es la belleza desinteresada sin la cual no sabía entenderse a sí mismo el mundo antiguo, pero que se ha despedido sigilosamente y de puntillas del mundo moderno de los intereses, abandonándolo a su avidez y a su tristeza. Es la belleza que tampoco es ya apreciada ni protegida por la religión" (ib.). Y concluye: "De aquel cuyo semblante se crispa ante la sola mención de su nombre —pues para él la belleza sólo es chuchería exótica del pasado burgués— podemos asegurar que, abierta o tácitamente, ya no es capaz de rezar y, pronto, ni siquiera será capaz de amar" (ib.). Por lo tanto, el camino de la belleza nos lleva a reconocer el Todo en el fragmento, el Infinito en lo finito, a Dios en la historia de la humanidad.

 

        Simone Weil escribía al respecto: "En todo lo que suscita en nosotros el sentimiento puro y auténtico de la belleza está realmente la presencia de Dios. Existe casi una especie de encarnación de Dios en el mundo, cuyo signo es la belleza. Lo bello es la prueba experimental de que la encarnación es posible. Por esto todo arte de primer orden es, por su esencia, religioso". La afirmación de Hermann Hesse es todavía más icástica: "Arte significa: dentro de cada cosa mostrar a Dios". Haciéndose eco de las palabras del Papa Pablo VI, el siervo de Dios Juan Pablo II reafirmó el deseo de la Iglesia de renovar el diálogo y la colaboración con los artistas: "Para transmitir el mensaje que Cristo le ha encomendado, la Iglesia necesita del arte" (Carta a los artistas, 12); pero preguntaba a continuación: "¿El arte tiene necesidad de la Iglesia?", invitando de este modo a los artistas a volver a encontrar en la experiencia religiosa, en la revelación cristiana y en el "gran código" que es la Biblia una fuente renovada y motivada de inspiración.

 

        Queridos artistas, ya para concluir, también yo quiero dirigiros, como mi predecesor, un llamamiento cordial, amistoso y apasionado. Vosotros sois los guardianes de la belleza; gracias a vuestro talento, tenéis la posibilidad de hablar al corazón de la humanidad, de tocar la sensibilidad individual y colectiva, de suscitar sueños y esperanzas, de ensanchar los horizontes del conocimiento y del compromiso humano. Por eso, sed agradecidos por los dones recibidos y plenamente conscientes de la gran responsabilidad de comunicar la belleza, de hacer comunicar en la belleza y mediante la belleza. Sed también vosotros, mediante vuestro arte, anunciadores y testigos de esperanza para la humanidad. Y no tengáis miedo de confrontaros con la fuente primera y última de la belleza, de dialogar con los creyentes, con quienes como vosotros se sienten peregrinos en el mundo y en la historia hacia la Belleza infinita. La fe no quita nada a vuestro genio, a vuestro arte, más aún, los exalta y los alimenta, los alienta a cruzar el umbral y a contemplar con mirada fascinada y conmovida la meta última y definitiva, el sol sin ocaso que ilumina y embellece el presente.

 

        San Agustín, cantor enamorado de la belleza, reflexionando sobre el destino último del hombre y casi comentando ante litteram la escena del Juicio que hoy tenéis delante de vuestros ojos, escribía: "Gozaremos, por tanto, hermanos, de una visión que los ojos nunca contemplaron, que los oídos nunca oyeron, que la fantasía nunca imaginó: una visión que supera todas las bellezas terrenas, la del oro, la de la plata, la de los bosques y los campos, la del mar y el cielo, la del sol y la luna, la de las estrellas y los ángeles; la razón es la siguiente: que esta es la fuente de todas las demás bellezas" (In Ep. Jo. Tr. 4, 5: PL 35, 2008). Queridos artistas, os deseo a todos que llevéis en vuestros ojos, en vuestras manos, en vuestro corazón esta visión, para que os dé alegría e inspire siempre vuestras obras bellas. A la vez que os bendigo de corazón, os saludo, como ya hizo Pablo VI, con una sola palabra: ¡Hasta la vista!

 

Je suis heureux de saluer tous les artistes présents. Chers amis, je vous encourage à découvrir et à exprimer toujours mieux, à travers la beauté de vos œuvres, le mystère de Dieu et le mystère de l’homme. Que Dieu vous bénisse!

 

Dear friends, thank you for your presence here today. Let the beauty that you express by your God-given talents always direct the hearts of others to glorify the Creator, the source of all that is good. God’s blessings upon you all!

 

Sehr herzlich grüβe ich euch, liebe Freunde. Mit eurem künstlerischen Talent macht ihr gleichsam das Schöpferwirken Gottes sichtbar. Der Herr, der uns im Schönen nah sein will, erfülle euch mit seinem Geist der Liebe. Gott segne euch alle.

 

Saludo cordialmente a los artistas que participan en este encuentro. Queridos amigos, os animo a fomentar el sentido y las manifestaciones de la hermosura en la creación. Que Dios os bendiga. Muchas gracias.

VESPERS ON THE OCCASION OF THE REOPENING
OF THE RECENTLY RESTORED PAULINE CHAPEL
IN THE VATICAN APOSTOLIC PALACE

HOMILY OF HIS HOLINESS POPE BENEDICT XVI

Pauline Chapel
Saturday, July 4, 2009

 

Your Eminences,
Venerable Brothers in the Episcopate and in the Priesthood,
Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Today, a few days after the Solemnity of Sts Peter and Paul and the conclusion of the Pauline Year, my wish to reopen the Pauline Chapel for worship is fulfilled. We have taken part in solemn celebrations in honour of the two Apostles in the Papal Basilicas of St Paul and St Peter. This evening, to complete them, as it were, we gather in the heart of the Apostolic Palace, in the Chapel desired by Pope Paul III and designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, the place of prayer reserved for the Pope and the Pontifical Family. The paintings and decorations adorning this chapel particularly the two large frescoes by Michelangelo Buonarotti which were the last works of his long life are especially effective in encouraging meditation and prayer. They depict the conversion of Paul and the crucifixion of Peter.

 

The eye is first drawn to the faces of the two Apostles. It is evident from their placement alone that these two faces play a central role in the iconographic message of the Chapel. But, aside from their positioning, they immediately attract us "beyond" the image: they call us to question and lead us to reflect. First of all, let us dwell a moment on Paul: why is he portrayed with such an elderly face? It is the face of an old man, whereas we know and Michelangelo also knew it well that the calling of Saul on the road to Damascus occurred when he was about 30 years old. The artistic choice takes us outside pure realism; it makes us go beyond the simple narration of events to introduce us to a deeper level. The face of Saul-Paul which is that of the artist himself, who by then was old, troubled and in search of the light of truth represents the human being in need of a greater light. It is the light of divine grace, indispensable in order to gain a new perspective from which to perceive reality, oriented towards the "hope laid up for you in heaven", as the Apostle writes in the initial greeting of the Letter to the Colossians which we have just heard (1: 5).

 

The face of Saul fallen to the ground is lit from above, by the light of the Risen One and, despite its dramatic nature, the figure inspires peace and instils a sense of security. It expresses the maturity of a man illuminated from within by Christ the Lord, while around him a flurry of events occurs in which all of the figures seem to be within a vortex. The grace and peace of God have enveloped Saul, they have internally conquered and transformed him. It is the same "grace" and the same "peace" that he was to announce to all his communities on his apostolic journeys, with the maturity of one who has aged not in years, but spiritually, a gift from the Lord himself. Therefore, in Paul's face we can already perceive the heart of the spiritual message of this Chapel: the wonder, that is, of Christ's grace which transforms and renews mankind through the light of his truth and his love. This is what constitutes the newness of conversion, the call to faith which finds its fulfilment in the mystery of the Cross.

 

From Paul's face let us pass to that of Peter, depicted at the moment when his inverted cross is being hoisted up and he turns to look at the onlooker. This face too surprises us. Here the age represented is the correct one, but it is the expression that amazes and questions us. Why this expression? It is not an image of suffering, and Peter's body communicates a surprising degree of physical vigour. The face, especially the forehead and eyes, seems to express the state of mind of a man confronting death and evil. There is a bewilderment, a sharp, projected gaze that seems almost to search for something or someone in the final hour. And the eyes also stand out also in the faces of those surrounding him. Agitated glances emerge, some even frightened or confused. What does all of this mean? It is what Jesus had predicted to his Apostle: "When you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will gird you and carry you where you do not want to go". And the Lord had added: "Follow me" (John 21: 18,19). In this precise moment the culmination of the sequela is reached: the disciple is no longer with his Master, and now tastes the bitterness of the cross, of the consequences of sin that separates from God, of all the absurdity of violence and falsehood. If one comes to this chapel to meditate, one cannot escape the radicalism of the question posed by the cross: the Cross of Christ, Head of the Church, and the cross of Peter, his Vicar on earth.

 

The two faces on which our gaze rests are opposite each other. One might therefore imagine that Peter's face is actually turned towards the face of Paul, who in turn does not see but bears within him the light of the Risen Christ. It is as though Peter, in the hour of supreme trial, were seeking that light which gave true faith to Paul. It is in this sense, then, that the two images can become the two acts of a single drama, the drama of the Paschal Mystery: Cross and Resurrection, death and life, sin and grace. The chronological order of the events portrayed might be inverted, nevertheless the plan of salvation emerges, the plan that Christ realized in himself by bringing it to fruition, as we have just sung in the hymn of the Letter to the Philippians. For those who come to pray in this chapel, and above all for the Pope, Peter and Paul become teachers of faith. With their witness they invite us to go deeper, to meditate in silence upon the mystery of the Cross, which accompanies the Church until the end of time, and to absorb the light of the faith. It is thanks to this light that the apostolic Community can extend to the ends of the earth the missionary and evangelizing action entrusted to it by the Risen Christ. Solemn celebrations with the people are not held here. This is where the Successor of Peter and his collaborators meditate in silence and adore the living Christ, present above all in the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist.

 

The Eucharist is the Sacrament in which the whole work of Redemption is concentrated: in Jesus as Eucharist we can contemplate the transformation of death into life, of violence into love. Hidden beneath the veils of the bread and the wine, we recognize through the eyes of faith the same glory that was manifested to the Apostles after the Resurrection. It is the same glory that Peter, James and John contemplated as a foretaste on the mountain, when Jesus was transfigured before them: a mysterious event, the Transfiguration, which the large painting in this Chapel by Simone Cantarini presents anew with unique force. In fact, however, the entire chapel the frescoes of Lorenzo Sabatini and Federico Zuccari, the decorations of numerous other artists brought here on another occasion by Pope Gregory XIII all of it flows together into a single, unique hymn of the triumph of life and grace over death and sin, in a symphony of worship and of love for Christ the Redeemer that is highly evocative.

 

Dear friends, at the end of this brief meditation, I would like to thank all those who have cooperated so that we may once again enjoy this completely restored sacred place: Prof. Antonio Paolucci and his predecessor Dr Francesco Buranelli, who, as Directors of the Vatican Museums, have always had this extremely important restoration at heart; the various specialists who, under the artistic direction of Prof. Arnold Nesselrath, worked on the frescoes and on the rest of the Chapel's decorations and, in particular, the Master Inspector Maurizio de Luca and his assistant, Maria Pustka, who directed the work and themselves worked on the two murals of Michelangelo, availing themselves of the consultation of an international commission composed of scholars of notable fame. My recognition goes likewise to Cardinal Giovanni Lajolo and his collaborators at the Governorate, who devoted special attention to the work. And naturally I extend a warm and dutiful "thank you" to the praiseworthy Catholic patrons, Americans and others, as well as to the Patrons of the Arts, generously committed to the protection and appraisal of the cultural patrimony of the Vatican, who made possible the result we admire today. May the expression of my most cordial gratitude reach each and every one of you.

 

We shall shortly be singing the Magnificat. May Mary Most Holy, Teacher of prayer and of adoration, together with Sts Peter and Paul, obtain abundant graces for those who are gathered in faith within this Chapel. And this evening, thankful to God for his wonders, and especially for the Death and Resurrection of his Son, may we lift up to him our praise also for this work that reaches its completion today. "To him who by the power at work within us is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, to him be the glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever! Amen" (Eph 3: 20-21).

 

CONSTITUTION
ON THE SACRED LITURGY
SACROSANCTUM CONCILIUM
SOLEMNLY PROMULGATED BY
HIS HOLINESS
POPE PAUL VI
ON DECEMBER 4, 1963

 

INTRODUCTION

 

1. This sacred Council has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church. The Council therefore sees particularly cogent reasons for undertaking the reform and promotion of the liturgy.

 

2. For the liturgy, "through which the work of our redemption is accomplished," [1] most of all in the divine sacrifice of the Eucharist, is the outstanding means whereby the faithful may express in their lives, and manifest to others, the mystery of Christ and the real nature of the true Church. It is of the essence of the Church that she be both human and divine, visible and yet invisibly equipped, eager to act and yet intent on contemplation, present in this world and yet not at home in it; and she is all these things in such wise that in her the human is directed and subordinated to the divine, the visible likewise to the invisible, action to contemplation, and this present world to that city yet to come, which we seek [2]. While the liturgy daily builds up those who are within into a holy temple of the Lord, into a dwelling place for God in the Spirit [3], to the mature measure of the fullness of Christ [4], at the same time it marvelously strengthens their power to preach Christ, and thus shows forth the Church to those who are outside as a sign lifted up among the nations [5] under which the scattered children of God may be gathered together [6], until there is one sheepfold and one shepherd [7].

 

3. Wherefore the sacred Council judges that the following principles concerning the promotion and reform of the liturgy should be called to mind, and that practical norms should be established.

Among these principles and norms there are some which can and should be applied both to the Roman rite and also to all the other rites. The practical norms which follow, however, should be taken as applying only to the Roman rite, except for those which, in the very nature of things, affect other rites as well.

 

4. Lastly, in faithful obedience to tradition, the sacred Council declares that holy Mother Church holds all lawfully acknowledged rites to be of equal right and dignity; that she wishes to preserve them in the future and to foster them in every way. The Council also desires that, where necessary, the rites be revised carefully in the light of sound tradition, and that they be given new vigor to meet the circumstances and needs of modern times.

 

CHAPTER I

GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE RESTORATION AND PROMOTION OF
THE SACRED LITURGY

 

1. The Nature of the Sacred Liturgy and Its Importance in the Church's Life

5. God who "wills that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4), "who in many and various ways spoke in times past to the fathers by the prophets" (Heb. 1:1), when the fullness of time had come sent His Son, the Word made flesh, anointed by the Holy Spirit, to preach the gospel to the poor, to heal the contrite of heart [8], to be a "bodily and spiritual medicine" [9], the Mediator between God and man [10]. For His humanity, united with the person of the Word, was the instrument of our salvation. Therefore in Christ "the perfect achievement of our reconciliation came forth, and the fullness of divine worship was given to us" [11].

The wonderful works of God among the people of the Old Testament were but a prelude to the work of Christ the Lord in redeeming mankind and giving perfect glory to God. He achieved His task principally by the paschal mystery of His blessed passion, resurrection from the dead, and the glorious ascension, whereby "dying, he destroyed our death and, rising, he restored our life" [12]. For it was from the side of Christ as He slept the sleep of death upon the cross that there came forth "the wondrous sacrament of the whole Church" [13].

 

6. Just as Christ was sent by the Father, so also He sent the apostles, filled with the Holy Spirit. This He did that, by preaching the gospel to every creature [14], they might proclaim that the Son of God, by His death and resurrection, had freed us from the power of Satan [15] and from death, and brought us into the kingdom of His Father. His purpose also was that they might accomplish the work of salvation which they had proclaimed, by means of sacrifice and sacraments, around which the entire liturgical life revolves. Thus by baptism men are plunged into the paschal mystery of Christ: they die with Him, are buried with Him, and rise with Him [16]; they receive the spirit of adoption as sons "in which we cry: Abba, Father" ( Rom. 8 :15), and thus become true adorers whom the Father seeks [17]. In like manner, as often as they eat the supper of the Lord they proclaim the death of the Lord until He comes [18]. For that reason, on the very day of Pentecost, when the Church appeared before the world, "those who received the word" of Peter "were baptized." And "they continued steadfastly in the teaching of the apostles and in the communion of the breaking of bread and in prayers . . . praising God and being in favor with all the people" (Acts 2:41-47). From that time onwards the Church has never failed to come together to celebrate the paschal mystery: reading those things "which were in all the scriptures concerning him" (Luke 24:27), celebrating the eucharist in which "the victory and triumph of his death are again made present" [19], and at the same time giving thanks "to God for his unspeakable gift" (2 Cor. 9:15) in Christ Jesus, "in praise of his glory" (Eph. 1:12), through the power of the Holy Spirit.

 

7. To accomplish so great a work, Christ is always present in His Church, especially in her liturgical celebrations. He is present in the sacrifice of the Mass, not only in the person of His minister, "the same now offering, through the ministry of priests, who formerly offered himself on the cross" [20], but especially under the Eucharistic species. By His power He is present in the sacraments, so that when a man baptizes it is really Christ Himself who baptizes [21]. He is present in His word, since it is He Himself who speaks when the holy scriptures are read in the Church. He is present, lastly, when the Church prays and sings, for He promised: "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20) .

Christ indeed always associates the Church with Himself in this great work wherein God is perfectly glorified and men are sanctified. The Church is His beloved Bride who calls to her Lord, and through Him offers worship to the Eternal Father.

Rightly, then, the liturgy is considered as an exercise of the priestly office of Jesus Christ. In the liturgy the sanctification of the man is signified by signs perceptible to the senses, and is effected in a way which corresponds with each of these signs; in the liturgy the whole public worship is performed by the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, that is, by the Head and His members.

From this it follows that every liturgical celebration, because it is an action of Christ the priest and of His Body which is the Church, is a sacred action surpassing all others; no other action of the Church can equal its efficacy by the same title and to the same degree.

 

8. In the earthly liturgy we take part in a foretaste of that heavenly liturgy which is celebrated in the holy city of Jerusalem toward which we journey as pilgrims, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God, a minister of the holies and of the true tabernacle [22]; we sing a hymn to the Lord's glory with all the warriors of the heavenly army; venerating the memory of the saints, we hope for some part and fellowship with them; we eagerly await the Saviour, Our Lord Jesus Christ, until He, our life, shall appear and we too will appear with Him in glory [23].

 

9. The sacred liturgy does not exhaust the entire activity of the Church. Before men can come to the liturgy they must be called to faith and to conversion: "How then are they to call upon him in whom they have not yet believed? But how are they to believe him whom they have not heard? And how are they to hear if no one preaches? And how are men to preach unless they be sent?" (Rom. 10:14-15).

Therefore the Church announces the good tidings of salvation to those who do not believe, so that all men may know the true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent, and may be converted from their ways, doing penance [24]. To believers also the Church must ever preach faith and penance, she must prepare them for the sacraments, teach them to observe all that Christ has commanded [25], and invite them to all the works of charity, piety, and the apostolate. For all these works make it clear that Christ's faithful, though not of this world, are to be the light of the world and to glorify the Father before men.

 

10. Nevertheless the liturgy is the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed; at the same time it is the font from which all her power flows. For the aim and object of apostolic works is that all who are made sons of God by faith and baptism should come together to praise God in the midst of His Church, to take part in the sacrifice, and to eat the Lord's supper.

The liturgy in its turn moves the faithful, filled with "the paschal sacraments," to be "one in holiness" [26]; it prays that "they may hold fast in their lives to what they have grasped by their faith" [27]; the renewal in the Eucharist of the covenant between the Lord and man draws the faithful into the compelling love of Christ and sets them on fire. From the liturgy, therefore, and especially from the Eucharist, as from a font, grace is poured forth upon us; and the sanctification of men in Christ and the glorification of God, to which all other activities of the Church are directed as toward their end, is achieved in the most efficacious possible way.

 

11. But in order that the liturgy may be able to produce its full effects, it is necessary that the faithful come to it with proper dispositions, that their minds should be attuned to their voices, and that they should cooperate with divine grace lest they receive it in vain [28] . Pastors of souls must therefore realize that, when the liturgy is celebrated, something more is required than the mere observation of the laws governing valid and licit celebration; it is their duty also to ensure that the faithful take part fully aware of what they are doing, actively engaged in the rite, and enriched by its effects.

 

12. The spiritual life, however, is not limited solely to participation in the liturgy. The Christian is indeed called to pray with his brethren, but he must also enter into his chamber to pray to the Father, in secret [29]; yet more, according to the teaching of the Apostle, he should pray without ceasing [30]. We learn from the same Apostle that we must always bear about in our body the dying of Jesus, so that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our bodily frame [31]. This is why we ask the Lord in the sacrifice of the Mass that, "receiving the offering of the spiritual victim," he may fashion us for himself "as an eternal gift" [32].

 

13. Popular devotions of the Christian people are to be highly commended, provided they accord with the laws and norms of the Church, above all when they are ordered by the Apostolic See.

Devotions proper to individual Churches also have a special dignity if they are undertaken by mandate of the bishops according to customs or books lawfully approved.

But these devotions should be so drawn up that they harmonize with the liturgical seasons, accord with the sacred liturgy, are in some fashion derived from it, and lead the people to it, since, in fact, the liturgy by its very nature far surpasses any of them.

II. The Promotion of Liturgical Instruction and Active Participation

 

14. Mother Church earnestly desires that all the faithful should be led to that fully conscious, and active participation in liturgical celebrations which is demanded by the very nature of the liturgy. Such participation by the Christian people as "a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a redeemed people (1 Pet. 2:9; cf. 2:4-5), is their right and duty by reason of their baptism.

In the restoration and promotion of the sacred liturgy, this full and active participation by all the people is the aim to be considered before all else; for it is the primary and indispensable source from which the faithful are to derive the true Christian spirit; and therefore pastors of souls must zealously strive to achieve it, by means of the necessary instruction, in all their pastoral work.

Yet it would be futile to entertain any hopes of realizing this unless the pastors themselves, in the first place, become thoroughly imbued with the spirit and power of the liturgy, and undertake to give instruction about it. A prime need, therefore, is that attention be directed, first of all, to the liturgical instruction of the clergy. Wherefore the sacred Council has decided to enact as follows:

 

15. Professors who are appointed to teach liturgy in seminaries, religious houses of study, and theological faculties must be properly trained for their work in institutes which specialize in this subject.

 

16. The study of sacred liturgy is to be ranked among the compulsory and major courses in seminaries and religious houses of studies; in theological faculties it is to rank among the principal courses. It is to be taught under its theological, historical, spiritual, pastoral, and juridical aspects. Moreover, other professors, while striving to expound the mystery of Christ and the history of salvation from the angle proper to each of their own subjects, must nevertheless do so in a way which will clearly bring out the connection between their subjects and the liturgy, as also the unity which underlies all priestly training. This consideration is especially important for professors of dogmatic, spiritual, and pastoral theology and for those of holy scripture.

 

17. In seminaries and houses of religious, clerics shall be given a liturgical formation in their spiritual life. For this they will need proper direction, so that they may be able to understand the sacred rites and take part in them wholeheartedly; and they will also need personally to celebrate the sacred mysteries, as well as popular devotions which are imbued with the spirit of the liturgy. In addition they must learn how to observe the liturgical laws, so that life in seminaries and houses of religious may be thoroughly influenced by the spirit of the liturgy.

 

18. Priests, both secular and religious, who are already working in the Lord's vineyard are to be helped by every suitable means to understand ever more fully what it is that they are doing when they perform sacred rites; they are to be aided to live the liturgical life and to share it with the faithful entrusted to their care.

 

19. With zeal and patience, pastors of souls must promote the liturgical instruction of the faithful, and also their active participation in the liturgy both internally and externally, taking into account their age and condition, their way of life, and standard of religious culture. By so doing, pastors will be fulfilling one of the chief duties of a faithful dispenser of the mysteries of God; and in this matter they must lead their flock not only in word but also by example.

 

20. Transmissions of the sacred rites by radio and television shall be done with discretion and dignity, under the leadership and direction of a suitable person appointed for this office by the bishops. This is especially important when the service to be broadcast is the Mass.

 

III. The Reform of the Sacred Liturgy

 

21. In order that the Christian people may more certainly derive an abundance of graces from the sacred liturgy, holy Mother Church desires to undertake with great care a general restoration of the liturgy itself. For the liturgy is made up of immutable elements divinely instituted, and of elements subject to change. These not only may but ought to be changed with the passage of time if they have suffered from the intrusion of anything out of harmony with the inner nature of the liturgy or have become unsuited to it.

In this restoration, both texts and rites should be drawn up so that they express more clearly the holy things which they signify; the Christian people, so far as possible, should be enabled to understand them with ease and to take part in them fully, actively, and as befits a community.

Wherefore the sacred Council establishes the following general norms:

 

A) General norms

 

22. 1. Regulation of the sacred liturgy depends solely on the authority of the Church, that is, on the Apostolic See and, as laws may determine, on the bishop.

2. In virtue of power conceded by the law, the regulation of the liturgy within certain defined limits belongs also to various kinds of competent territorial bodies of bishops legitimately established.

3. Therefore no other person, even if he be a priest, may add, remove, or change anything in the liturgy on his own authority.

 

23. That sound tradition may be retained, and yet the way remain open to legitimate progress careful investigation is always to be made into each part of the liturgy which is to be revised. This investigation should be theological, historical, and pastoral. Also the general laws governing the structure and meaning of the liturgy must be studied in conjunction with the experience derived from recent liturgical reforms and from the indults conceded to various places. Finally, there must be no innovations unless the good of the Church genuinely and certainly requires them; and care must be taken that any new forms adopted should in some way grow organically from forms already existing.

As far as possible, notable differences between the rites used in adjacent regions must be carefully avoided.

 

24. Sacred scripture is of the greatest importance in the celebration of the liturgy. For it is from scripture that lessons are read and explained in the homily, and psalms are sung; the prayers, collects, and liturgical songs are scriptural in their inspiration and their force, and it is from the scriptures that actions and signs derive their meaning. Thus to achieve the restoration, progress, and adaptation of the sacred liturgy, it is essential to promote that warm and living love for scripture to which the venerable tradition of both eastern and western rites gives testimony.

 

25. The liturgical books are to be revised as soon as possible; experts are to be employed on the task, and bishops are to be consulted, from various parts of the world.

B) Norms drawn from the hierarchic and communal nature of the Liturgy

 

26. Liturgical services are not private functions, but are celebrations of the Church, which is the "sacrament of unity," namely, the holy people united and ordered under their bishops [33]

Therefore liturgical services pertain to the whole body of the Church; they manifest it and have effects upon it; but they concern the individual members of the Church in different ways, according to their differing rank, office, and actual participation.

 

27. It is to be stressed that whenever rites, according to their specific nature, make provision for communal celebration involving the presence and active participation of the faithful, this way of celebrating them is to be preferred, so far as possible, to a celebration that is individual and quasi-private.

This applies with especial force to the celebration of Mass and the administration of the sacraments, even though every Mass has of itself a public and social nature.

 

28. In liturgical celebrations each person, minister or layman, who has an office to perform, should do all of, but only, those parts which pertain to his office by the nature of the rite and the principles of liturgy.

 

29. Servers, lectors commentators, and members of the choir also exercise a genuine liturgical function. They ought, therefore, to discharge their office with the sincere piety and decorum demanded by so exalted a ministry and rightly expected of them by God's people.

Consequently they must all be deeply imbued with the spirit of the liturgy, each in his own measure, and they must be trained to perform their functions in a correct and orderly manner.

 

30. To promote active participation, the people should be encouraged to take part by means of acclamations, responses, psalmody, antiphons, and songs, as well as by actions, gestures, and bodily attitudes. And at the proper times all should observe a reverent silence.

 

31. The revision of the liturgical books must carefully attend to the provision of rubrics also for the people's parts.

 

32. The liturgy makes distinctions between persons according to their liturgical function and sacred Orders, and there are liturgical laws providing for due honors to be given to civil authorities. Apart from these instances, no special honors are to be paid in the liturgy to any private persons or classes of persons, whether in the ceremonies or by external display.

C) Norms based upon the didactic and pastoral nature of the Liturgy

 

33. Although the sacred liturgy is above all things the worship of the divine Majesty, it likewise contains much instruction for the faithful [34]. For in the liturgy God speaks to His people and Christ is still proclaiming His gospel. And the people reply to God both by song and prayer.

Moreover, the prayers addressed to God by the priest who presides over the assembly in the person of Christ are said in the name of the entire holy people and of all present. And the visible signs used by the liturgy to signify invisible divine things have been chosen by Christ or the Church. Thus not only when things are read "which were written for our instruction" (Rom. 15:4), but also when the Church prays or sings or acts, the faith of those taking part is nourished and their minds are raised to God, so that they may offer Him their rational service and more abundantly receive His grace.

Wherefore, in the revision of the liturgy, the following general norms should be observed:

 

34. The rites should be distinguished by a noble simplicity; they should be short, clear, and unencumbered by useless repetitions; they should be within the people's powers of comprehension, and normally should not require much explanation.

 

35. That the intimate connection between words and rites may be apparent in the liturgy:

1) In sacred celebrations there is to be more reading from holy scripture, and it is to be more varied and suitable.

2) Because the sermon is part of the liturgical service, the best place for it is to be indicated even in the rubrics, as far as the nature of the rite will allow; the ministry of preaching is to be fulfilled with exactitude and fidelity. The sermon, moreover, should draw its content mainly from scriptural and liturgical sources, and its character should be that of a proclamation of God's wonderful works in the history of salvation, the mystery of Christ, ever made present and active within us, especially in the celebration of the liturgy.

3) Instruction which is more explicitly liturgical should also be given in a variety of ways; if necessary, short directives to be spoken by the priest or proper minister should be provided within the rites themselves. But they should occur only at the more suitable moments, and be in prescribed or similar words.

4) Bible services should be encouraged, especially on the vigils of the more solemn feasts, on some weekdays in Advent and Lent, and on Sundays and feast days. They are particularly to be commended in places where no priest is available; when this is so, a deacon or some other person authorized by the bishop should preside over the celebration.

 

36. 1. Particular law remaining in force, the use of the Latin language is to be preserved in the Latin rites.

2. But since the use of the mother tongue, whether in the Mass, the administration of the sacraments, or other parts of the liturgy, frequently may be of great advantage to the people, the limits of its employment may be extended. This will apply in the first place to the readings and directives, and to some of the prayers and chants, according to the regulations on this matter to be laid down separately in subsequent chapters.

3. These norms being observed, it is for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to decide whether, and to what extent, the vernacular language is to be used; their decrees are to be approved, that is, confirmed, by the Apostolic See. And, whenever it seems to be called for, this authority is to consult with bishops of neighboring regions which have the same language.

4. Translations from the Latin text into the mother tongue intended for use in the liturgy must be approved by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned above.

 

D) Norms for adapting the Liturgy to the culture and traditions of peoples

 

37. Even in the liturgy, the Church has no wish to impose a rigid uniformity in matters which do not implicate the faith or the good of the whole community; rather does she respect and foster the genius and talents of the various races and peoples. Anything in these peoples' way of life which is not indissolubly bound up with superstition and error she studies with sympathy and, if possible, preserves intact. Sometimes in fact she admits such things into the liturgy itself, so long as they harmonize with its true and authentic spirit.

 

38. Provisions shall also be made, when revising the liturgical books, for legitimate variations and adaptations to different groups, regions, and peoples, especially in mission lands, provided that the substantial unity of the Roman rite is preserved; and this should be borne in mind when drawing up the rites and devising rubrics.

 

39. Within the limits set by the typical editions of the liturgical books, it shall be for the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, to specify adaptations, especially in the case of the administration of the sacraments, the sacramentals, processions, liturgical language, sacred music, and the arts, but according to the fundamental norms laid down in this Constitution.

 

40. In some places and circumstances, however, an even more radical adaptation of the liturgy is needed, and this entails greater difficulties. Wherefore:

1) The competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, must, in this matter, carefully and prudently consider which elements from the traditions and culture of individual peoples might appropriately be admitted into divine worship. Adaptations which are judged to be useful or necessary should then be submitted to the Apostolic See, by whose consent they may be introduced.

2) To ensure that adaptations may be made with all the circumspection which they demand, the Apostolic See will grant power to this same territorial ecclesiastical authority to permit and to direct, as the case requires, the necessary preliminary experiments over a determined period of time among certain groups suited for the purpose.

3) Because liturgical laws often involve special difficulties with respect to adaptation, particularly in mission lands, men who are experts in these matters must be employed to formulate them.

 

E) Promotion of Liturgical Life in Diocese and Parish

 

41. The bishop is to be considered as the high priest of his flock, from whom the life in Christ of his faithful is in some way derived and dependent.

Therefore all should hold in great esteem the liturgical life of the diocese centered around the bishop, especially in his cathedral church; they must be convinced that the pre-eminent manifestation of the Church consists in the full active participation of all God's holy people in these liturgical celebrations, especially in the same eucharist, in a single prayer, at one altar, at which there presides the bishop surrounded by his college of priests and by his ministers [35].

 

42. But because it is impossible for the bishop always and everywhere to preside over the whole flock in his Church, he cannot do other than establish lesser groupings of the faithful. Among these the parishes, set up locally under a pastor who takes the place of the bishop, are the most important: for in some manner they represent the visible Church constituted throughout the world.

And therefore the liturgical life of the parish and its relationship to the bishop must be fostered theoretically and practically among the faithful and clergy; efforts also must be made to encourage a sense of community within the parish, above all in the common celebration of the Sunday Mass.

F) The Promotion of Pastoral-Liturgical Action

 

43. Zeal for the promotion and restoration of the liturgy is rightly held to be a sign of the providential dispositions of God in our time, as a movement of the Holy Spirit in His Church. It is today a distinguishing mark of the Church's life, indeed of the whole tenor of contemporary religious thought and action.

So that this pastoral-liturgical action may become even more vigorous in the Church, the sacred Council decrees:

 

44. It is desirable that the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, set up a liturgical commission, to be assisted by experts in liturgical science, sacred music, art and pastoral practice. So far as possible the commission should be aided by some kind of Institute for Pastoral Liturgy, consisting of persons who are eminent in these matters, and including laymen as circumstances suggest. Under the direction of the above-mentioned territorial ecclesiastical authority the commission is to regulate pastoral-liturgical action throughout the territory, and to promote studies and necessary experiments whenever there is question of adaptations to be proposed to the Apostolic See.

 

45. For the same reason every diocese is to have a commission on the sacred liturgy under the direction of the bishop, for promoting the liturgical apostolate.

Sometimes it may be expedient that several dioceses should form between them one single commission which will be able to promote the liturgy by common consultation.

 

46. Besides the commission on the sacred liturgy, every diocese, as far as possible, should have commissions for sacred music and sacred art.

These three commissions must work in closest collaboration; indeed it will often be best to fuse the three of them into one single commission.

 

CHAPTER II

THE MOST SACRED MYSTERY OF THE EUCHARIST

 

47. At the Last Supper, on the night when He was betrayed, our Saviour instituted the eucharistic sacrifice of His Body and Blood. He did this in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the Cross throughout the centuries until He should come again, and so to entrust to His beloved spouse, the Church, a memorial of His death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity [36], a paschal banquet in which Christ is eaten, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us [37].

 

48. The Church, therefore, earnestly desires that Christ's faithful, when present at this mystery of faith, should not be there as strangers or silent spectators; on the contrary, through a good understanding of the rites and prayers they should take part in the sacred action conscious of what they are doing, with devotion and full collaboration. They should be instructed by God's word and be nourished at the table of the Lord's body; they should give thanks to God; by offering the Immaculate Victim, not only through the hands of the priest, but also with him, they should learn also to offer themselves; through Christ the Mediator [38], they should be drawn day by day into ever more perfect union with God and with each other, so that finally God may be all in all.

 

49. For this reason the sacred Council, having in mind those Masses which are celebrated with the assistance of the faithful, especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation, has made the following decrees in order that the sacrifice of the Mass, even in the ritual forms of its celebration, may become pastorally efficacious to the fullest degree.

 

50. The rite of the Mass is to be revised in such a way that the intrinsic nature and purpose of its several parts, as also the connection between them, may be more clearly manifested, and that devout and active participation by the faithful may be more easily achieved.

For this purpose the rites are to be simplified, due care being taken to preserve their substance; elements which, with the passage of time, came to be duplicated, or were added with but little advantage, are now to be discarded; other elements which have suffered injury through accidents of history are now to be restored to the vigor which they had in the days of the holy Fathers, as may seem useful or necessary.

 

51. The treasures of the bible are to be opened up more lavishly, so that richer fare may be provided for the faithful at the table of God's word. In this way a more representative portion of the holy scriptures will be read to the people in the course of a prescribed number of years.

 

52. By means of the homily the mysteries of the faith and the guiding principles of the Christian life are expounded from the sacred text, during the course of the liturgical year; the homily, therefore, is to be highly esteemed as part of the liturgy itself; in fact, at those Masses which are celebrated with the assistance of the people on Sundays and feasts of obligation, it should not be omitted except for a serious reason.

 

53. Especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation there is to be restored, after the Gospel and the homily, "the common prayer" or "the prayer of the faithful." By this prayer, in which the people are to take part, intercession will be made for holy Church, for the civil authorities, for those oppressed by various needs, for all mankind, and for the salvation of the entire world [39].

 

54. In Masses which are celebrated with the people, a suitable place may be allotted to their mother tongue. This is to apply in the first place to the readings and "the common prayer," but also, as local conditions may warrant, to those parts which pertain to the people, according to the norm laid down in Art. 36 of this Constitution.

Nevertheless steps should be taken so that the faithful may also be able to say or to sing together in Latin those parts of the Ordinary of the Mass which pertain to them.

And wherever a more extended use of the mother tongue within the Mass appears desirable, the regulation laid down in Art. 40 of this Constitution is to be observed.

 

55. That more perfect form of participation in the Mass whereby the faithful, after the priest's communion, receive the Lord's body from the same sacrifice, is strongly commended.

The dogmatic principles which were laid down by the Council of Trent remaining intact [40], communion under both kinds may be granted when the bishops think fit, not only to clerics and religious, but also to the laity, in cases to be determined by the Apostolic See, as, for instance, to the newly ordained in the Mass of their sacred ordination, to the newly professed in the Mass of their religious profession, and to the newly baptized in the Mass which follows their baptism.

 

56. The two parts which, in a certain sense, go to make up the Mass, namely, the liturgy of the word and the eucharistic liturgy, are so closely connected with each other that they form but one single act of worship. Accordingly this sacred Synod strongly urges pastors of souls that, when instructing the faithful, they insistently teach them to take their part in the entire Mass, especially on Sundays and feasts of obligation.

 

57. 1. Concelebration, whereby the unity of the priesthood is appropriately manifested, has remained in use to this day in the Church both in the east and in the west. For this reason it has seemed good to the Council to extend permission for concelebration to the following cases:

1.

a) on the Thursday of the Lord's Supper, not only at the Mass of the Chrism, but also at the evening Mass.

b) at Masses during councils, bishops' conferences, and synods;

c) at the Mass for the blessing of an abbot.

2. Also, with permission of the ordinary, to whom it belongs to decide whether concelebration is opportune:

a) at conventual Mass, and at the principle Mass in churches when the needs of the faithful do not require that all priests available should celebrate individually;

b) at Masses celebrated at any kind of priests' meetings, whether the priests be secular clergy or religious.

2.

1. The regulation, however, of the discipline of con-celebration in the diocese pertains to the bishop.

2. Nevertheless, each priest shall always retain his right to celebrate Mass individually, though not at the same time in the same church as a concelebrated Mass, nor on Thursday of the Lord's Supper.

 

58. A new rite for concelebration is to be drawn up and inserted into the Pontifical and into the Roman Missal.

 

 

CHAPTER III

THE OTHER SACRAMENTS AND THE SACRAMENTALS

 

59. The purpose of the sacraments is to sanctify men, to build up the body of Christ, and, finally, to give worship to God; because they are signs they also instruct. They not only presuppose faith, but by words and objects they also nourish, strengthen, and express it; that is why they are called "sacraments of faith." They do indeed impart grace, but, in addition, the very act of celebrating them most effectively disposes the faithful to receive this grace in a fruitful manner, to worship God duly, and to practice charity.

It is therefore of the highest importance that the faithful should easily understand the sacramental signs, and should frequent with great eagerness those sacraments which were instituted to nourish the Christian life.

 

60. Holy Mother Church has, moreover, instituted sacramentals. These are sacred signs which bear a resemblance to the sacraments: they signify effects, particularly of a spiritual kind, which are obtained through the Church's intercession. By them men are disposed to receive the chief effect of the sacraments, and various occasions in life are rendered holy.

 

61. Thus, for well-disposed members of the faithful, the liturgy of the sacraments and sacramentals sanctifies almost every event in their lives; they are given access to the stream of divine grace which flows from the paschal mystery of the passion, death, the resurrection of Christ, the font from which all sacraments and sacramentals draw their power. There is hardly any proper use of material things which cannot thus be directed toward the sanctification of men and the praise of God.

 

62. With the passage of time, however, there have crept into the rites of the sacraments and sacramentals certain features which have rendered their nature and purpose far from clear to the people of today; hence some changes have become necessary to adapt them to the needs of our own times. For this reason the sacred Council decrees as follows concerning their revision.

 

63. Because of the use of the mother tongue in the administration of the sacraments and sacramentals can often be of considerable help to the people, this use is to be extended according to the following norms:

a) The vernacular language may be used in administering the sacraments and sacramentals, according to the norm of Art. 36.

b) In harmony with the new edition of the Roman Ritual, particular rituals shall be prepared without delay by the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 2, of this Constitution. These rituals, which are to be adapted, also as regards the language employed, to the needs of the different regions, are to be reviewed by the Apostolic See and then introduced into the regions for which they have been prepared. But in drawing up these rituals or particular collections of rites, the instructions prefixed to the individual rites the Roman Ritual, whether they be pastoral and rubrical or whether they have special social import, shall not be omitted.

 

64. The catechumenate for adults, comprising several distinct steps, is to be restored and to be taken into use at the discretion of the local ordinary. By this, means the time of the catechumenate, which is intended as a period of suitable instruction, may be sanctified by sacred rites to be celebrated at successive intervals of time.

 

65. In mission lands it is found that some of the peoples already make use of initiation rites. Elements from these, when capable of being adapted to Christian ritual, may be admitted along with those already found in Christian tradition, according to the norm laid down in Art. 37-40, of this Constitution.

 

66. Both the rites for the baptism of adults are to be revised: not only the simpler rite, but also the more solemn one, which must take into account the restored catechumenate. A special Mass "for the conferring of baptism" is to be inserted into the Roman Missal.

 

67. The rite for the baptism of infants is to be revised, and it should be adapted to the circumstance that those to be baptized are, in fact, infants. The roles of parents and godparents, and also their duties, should be brought out more clearly in the rite itself.

 

68. The baptismal rite should contain variants, to be used at the discretion of the local ordinary, for occasions when a very large number are to be baptized together. Moreover, a shorter rite is to be drawn up, especially for mission lands, to be used by catechists, but also by the faithful in general when there is danger of death, and neither priest nor deacon is available.

 

69. In place of the rite called the "Order of supplying what was omitted in the baptism of an infant," a new rite is to be drawn up. This should manifest more fittingly and clearly that the infant, baptized by the short rite, has already been received into the Church.

And a new rite is to be drawn up for converts who have already been validly baptized; it should indicate that they are now admitted to communion with the Church.

 

70. Except during Eastertide, baptismal water may be blessed within the rite of baptism itself by an approved shorter formula.

 

71. The rite of confirmation is to be revised and the intimate connection which this sacrament has with the whole of Christian initiation is to be more clearly set forth; for this reason it is fitting for candidates to renew their baptismal promises just before they are confirmed.

Confirmation may be given within the Mass when convenient; when it is given outside the Mass, the rite that is used should be introduced by a formula to be drawn up for this purpose.

 

72. The rite and formulas for the sacrament of penance are to be revised so that they more clearly express both the nature and effect of the sacrament.

 

73. "Extreme unction," which may also and more fittingly be called "anointing of the sick," is not a sacrament for those only who are at the point of death. Hence, as soon as any one of the faithful begins to be in danger of death from sickness or old age, the fitting time for him to receive this sacrament has certainly already arrived.

 

74. In addition to the separate rites for anointing of the sick and for viaticum, a continuous rite shall be prepared according to which the sick man is anointed after he has made his confession and before he receives viaticum.

 

75. The number of the anointings is to be adapted to the occasion, and the prayers which belong to the rite of anointing are to be revised so as to correspond with the varying conditions of the sick who receive the sacrament.

 

76. Both the ceremonies and texts of the ordination rites are to be revised. The address given by the bishop at the beginning of each ordination or consecration may be in the mother tongue.

When a bishop is consecrated, the laying of hands may be done by all the bishops present.

 

77. The marriage rite now found in the Roman Ritual is to be revised and enriched in such a way that the grace of the sacrament is more clearly signified and the duties of the spouses are taught.

"If any regions are wont to use other praiseworthy customs and ceremonies when celebrating the sacrament of matrimony, the sacred Synod earnestly desires that these by all means be retained" [41].

Moreover the competent territorial ecclesiastical authority mentioned in Art. 22, 52, of this Constitution is free to draw up its own rite suited to the usages of place and people, according to the provision of Art. 63. But the rite must always conform to the law that the priest assisting at the marriage must ask for and obtain the consent of the contracting parties.

 

78. Matrimony is normally to be celebrated within the Mass, after the reading of the gospel and the homily, and before "the prayer of the faithful." The prayer for the bride, duly amended to remind both spouses of their equal obligation to remain faithful to each other, may be said in the mother tongue.

But if the sacrament of matrimony is celebrated apart from Mass, the epistle and gospel from the nuptial Mass are to be read at the beginning of the rite, and the blessing should always be given to the spouses.

 

79. The sacramentals are to undergo a revision which takes into account the primary principle of enabling the faithful to participate intelligently, actively, and easily; the circumstances of our own days must also be considered. When rituals are revised, as laid down in Art. 63, new sacramentals may also be added as the need for these becomes apparent.

Reserved blessings shall be very few; reservations shall be in favor of bishops or ordinaries.

Let provision be made that some sacramentals, at least in special circumstances and at the discretion of the ordinary, may be administered by qualified lay persons.

 

80. The rite for the consecration of virgins at present found in the Roman Pontifical is to be revised.

Moreover, a rite of religious profession and renewal of vows shall be drawn up in order to achieve greater unity, sobriety, and dignity. Apart from exceptions in particular law, this rite should be adopted by those who make their profession or renewal of vows within the Mass.

Religious profession should preferably be made within the Mass.

 

81. The rite for the burial of the dead should express more clearly the paschal character of Christian death, and should correspond more closely to the circumstances and traditions found in various regions. This holds good also for the liturgical color to be used.

 

82. The rite for the burial of infants is to be revised, and a special Mass for the occasion should be provided.

 

 

CHAPTER IV

THE DIVINE OFFICE

 

83. Christ Jesus, high priest of the new and eternal covenant, taking human nature, introduced into this earthly exile that hymn which is sung throughout all ages in the halls of heaven. He joins the entire community of mankind to Himself, associating it with His own singing of this canticle of divine praise.

For he continues His priestly work through the agency of His Church, which is ceaselessly engaged in praising the Lord and interceding for the salvation of the whole world. She does this, not only by celebrating the eucharist, but also in other ways, especially by praying the divine office.

 

84. By tradition going back to early Christian times, the divine office is devised so that the whole course of the day and night is made holy by the praises of God. Therefore, when this wonderful song of praise is rightly performed by priests and others who are deputed for this purpose by the Church's ordinance, or by the faithful praying together with the priest in the approved form, then it is truly the voice of the bride addressed to her bridegroom; It is the very prayer which Christ Himself, together with His body, addresses to the Father.

 

85. Hence all who render this service are not only fulfilling a duty of the Church, but also are sharing in the greatest honor of Christ's spouse, for by offering these praises to God they are standing before God's throne in the name of the Church their Mother.

 

86. Priests who are engaged in the sacred pastoral ministry will offer the praises of the hours with greater fervor the more vividly they realize that they must heed St. Paul's exhortation: "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:11). For the work in which they labor will effect nothing and bring forth no fruit except by the power of the Lord who said: "Without me you can do nothing" (John 15: 5). That is why the apostles, instituting deacons, said: "We will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word" (Acts 6:4).

 

87. In order that the divine office may be better and more perfectly prayed in existing circumstances, whether by priests or by other members of the Church, the sacred Council, carrying further the restoration already so happily begun by the Apostolic See, has seen fit to decree as follows concerning the office of the Roman rite.

 

88. Because the purpose of the office is to sanctify the day, the traditional sequence of the hours is to be restored so that once again they may be genuinely related to the time of the day when they are prayed, as far as this may be possible. Moreover, it will be necessary to take into account the modern conditions in which daily life has to be lived, especially by those who are called to labor in apostolic works.

 

89. Therefore, when the office is revised, these norms are to be observed:

a) By the venerable tradition of the universal Church, Lauds as morning prayer and Vespers as evening prayer are the two hinges on which the daily office turns; hence they are to be considered as the chief hours and are to be celebrated as such.

b) Compline is to be drawn up so that it will be a suitable prayer for the end of the day.

c) The hour known as Matins, although it should retain the character of nocturnal praise when celebrated in choir, shall be adapted so that it may be recited at any hour of the day; it shall be made up of fewer psalms and longer readings.

d) The hour of Prime is to be suppressed.

e) In choir the hours of Terce, Sext, and None are to be observed. But outside choir it will be lawful to select any one of these three, according to the respective time of the day.

 

90. The divine office, because it is the public prayer of the Church, is a source of piety, and nourishment for personal prayer. And therefore priests and all others who take part in the divine office are earnestly exhorted in the Lord to attune their minds to their voices when praying it. The better to achieve this, let them take steps to improve their understanding of the liturgy and of the bible, especially of the psalms.

In revising the Roman office, its ancient and venerable treasures are to be so adapted that all those to whom they are handed on may more extensively and easily draw profit from them.

 

91. So that it may really be possible in practice to observe the course of the hours proposed in Art. 89, the psalms are no longer to be distributed throughout one week, but through some longer period of time.

The work of revising the psalter, already happily begun, is to be finished as soon as possible, and is to take into account the style of Christian Latin, the liturgical use of psalms, also when sung, and the entire tradition of the Latin Church.

 

92. As regards the readings, the following shall be observed: a) Readings from sacred scripture shall be arranged so that the riches of God's word may be easily accessible in more abundant measure.

b) Readings excerpted from the works of the fathers, doctors, and ecclesiastical writers shall be better selected.

c) The accounts of martyrdom or the lives of the saints are to accord with the facts of history.

 

93. To whatever extent may seem desirable, the hymns are to be restored to their original form, and whatever smacks of mythology or ill accords with Christian piety is to be removed or changed. Also, as occasion may arise, let other selections from the treasury of hymns be incorporated.

 

94. That the day may be truly sanctified, and that the hours themselves may be recited with spiritual advantage, it is best that each of them be prayed at a time which most closely corresponds with its true canonical time.

 

95. Communities obliged to choral office are bound to celebrate the office in choir every day in addition to the conventual Mass. In particular:

a) Orders of canons, of monks and of nuns, and of other regulars bound by law or constitutions to choral office must celebrate the entire office.

b) Cathedral or collegiate chapters are bound to recite those parts of the office imposed on them by general or particular law.

c) All members of the above communities who are in major orders or who are solemnly professed, except for lay brothers, are bound to recite individually those canonical hours which they do not pray in choir.

 

96. Clerics not bound to office in choir, if they are in major orders, are bound to pray the entire office every day, either in common or individually, as laid down in Art. 89.

 

97. Appropriate instances are to be defined by the rubrics in which a liturgical service may be substituted for the divine office.

In particular cases, and for a just reason, ordinaries can dispense their subjects wholly or in part from the obligation of reciting the divine office, or may commute the obligation.

 

98. Members of any institute dedicated to acquiring perfection who, according to their constitutions, are to recite any parts of the divine office are thereby performing the public prayer of the Church.

They too perform the public prayer of the Church who, in virtue of their constitutions, recite any short office, provided this is drawn up after the pattern of the divine office and is duly approved.

 

99. Since the divine office is the voice of the Church, that is of the whole mystical body publicly praising God, those clerics who are not obliged to office in choir, especially priests who live together or who assemble for any purpose, are urged to pray at least some part of the divine office in common.

All who pray the divine office, whether in choir or in common, should fulfill the task entrusted to them as perfectly as possible: this refers not only to the internal devotion of their minds but also to their external manner of celebration.

It is, moreover, fitting that the office, both in choir and in common, be sung when possible.

 

100. Pastors of souls should see to it that the chief hours, especially Vespers, are celebrated in common in church on Sundays and the more solemn feasts. And the laity, too, are encouraged to recite the divine office, either with the priests, or among themselves, or even individually.

 

101. 1. In accordance with the centuries-old tradition of the Latin rite, the Latin language is to be retained by clerics in the divine office. But in individual cases the ordinary has the power of granting the use of a vernacular translation to those clerics for whom the use of Latin constitutes a grave obstacle to their praying the office properly. The vernacular version, however, must be one that is drawn up according to the provision of Art. 36.

2. The competent superior has the power to grant the use of the vernacular in the celebration of the divine office, even in choir, to nuns and to members of institutes dedicated to acquiring perfection, both men who are not clerics and women. The version, however, must be one that is approved.

3. Any cleric bound to the divine office fulfills his obligation if he prays the office in the vernacular together with a group of the faithful or with those mentioned in 52 above provided that the text of the translation is approved.

 

 

CHAPTER V

THE LITURGICAL YEAR

 

102. Holy Mother Church is conscious that she must celebrate the saving work of her divine Spouse by devoutly recalling it on certain days throughout the course of the year. Every week, on the day which she has called the Lord's day, she keeps the memory of the Lord's resurrection, which she also celebrates once in the year, together with His blessed passion, in the most solemn festival of Easter.

Within the cycle of a year, moreover, she unfolds the whole mystery of Christ, from the incarnation and birth until the ascension, the day of Pentecost, and the expectation of blessed hope and of the coming of the Lord.

Recalling thus the mysteries of redemption, the Church opens to the faithful the riches of her Lord's powers and merits, so that these are in some way made present for all time, and the faithful are enabled to lay hold upon them and become filled with saving grace.

 

103. In celebrating this annual cycle of Christ's mysteries, holy Church honors with especial love the Blessed Mary, Mother of God, who is joined by an inseparable bond to the saving work of her Son. In her the Church holds up and admires the most excellent fruit of the redemption, and joyfully contemplates, as in a faultless image, that which she herself desires and hopes wholly to be.

 

104. The Church has also included in the annual cycle days devoted to the memory of the martyrs and the other saints. Raised up to perfection by the manifold grace of God, and already in possession of eternal salvation, they sing God's perfect praise in heaven and offer prayers for us. By celebrating the passage of these saints from earth to heaven the Church proclaims the paschal mystery achieved in the saints who have suffered and been glorified with Christ; she proposes them to the faithful as examples drawing all to the Father through Christ, and through their merits she pleads for God's favors.

 

105. Finally, in the various seasons of the year and according to her traditional discipline, the Church completes the formation of the faithful by means of pious practices for soul and body, by instruction, prayer, and works of penance and of mercy.

Accordingly the sacred Council has seen fit to decree as follows.

 

106. By a tradition handed down from the apostles which took its origin from the very day of Christ's resurrection, the Church celebrates the paschal mystery every eighth day; with good reason this, then, bears the name of the Lord's day or Sunday. For on this day Christ's faithful are bound to come together into one place so that; by hearing the word of God and taking part in the eucharist, they may call to mind the passion, the resurrection and the glorification of the Lord Jesus, and may thank God who "has begotten them again, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, unto a living hope" (1 Pet. 1:3). Hence the Lord's day is the original feast day, and it should be proposed to the piety of the faithful and taught to them so that it may become in fact a day of joy and of freedom from work. Other celebrations, unless they be truly of greatest importance, shall not have precedence over the Sunday which is the foundation and kernel of the whole liturgical year.

 

107. The liturgical year is to be revised so that the traditional customs and discipline of the sacred seasons shall be preserved or restored to suit the conditions of modern times; their specific character is to be retained, so that they duly nourish the piety of the faithful who celebrate the mysteries of Christian redemption, and above all the paschal mystery. If certain adaptations are considered necessary on account of local conditions, they are to be made in accordance with the provisions of Art. 39 and 40.

 

108. The minds of the faithful must be directed primarily toward the feasts of the Lord whereby the mysteries of salvation are celebrated in the course of the year. Therefore, the proper of the time shall be given the preference which is its due over the feasts of the saints, so that the entire cycle of the mysteries of salvation may be suitably recalled.

 

109. The season of Lent has a twofold character: primarily by recalling or preparing for baptism and by penance, it disposes the faithful, who more diligently hear the word of God and devote themselves to prayer, to celebrate the paschal mystery. This twofold character is to be brought into greater prominence both in the liturgy and by liturgical catechesis. Hence:

a) More use is to be made of the baptismal features proper to the Lenten liturgy; some of them, which used to flourish in bygone days, are to be restored as may seem good.

b) The same is to apply to the penitential elements. As regards instruction it is important to impress on the minds of the faithful not only a social consequences of sin but also that essence of the virtue of penance which leads to the detestation of sin as an offence against God; the role of the Church in penitential practices is not to be passed over, and the people must be exhorted to pray for sinners.

 

110. During Lent penance should not be only internal and individual, but also external and social. The practice of penance should be fostered in ways that are possible in our own times and in different regions, and according to the circumstances of the faithful; it should be encouraged by the authorities mentioned in Art. 22.

Nevertheless, let the paschal fast be kept sacred. Let it be celebrated everywhere on Good Friday and, where possible, prolonged throughout Holy Saturday, so that the joys of the Sunday of the resurrection may be attained with uplifted and clear mind.

 

111. The saints have been traditionally honored in the Church and their authentic relics and images held in veneration. For the feasts of the saints proclaim the wonderful works of Christ in His servants, and display to the faithful fitting examples for their imitation.

Lest the feasts of the saints should take precedence over the feasts which commemorate the very mysteries of salvation, many of them should be left to be celebrated by a particular Church or nation or family of religious; only those should be extended to the universal Church which commemorate saints who are truly of universal importance.

 

 

CHAPTER VI

SACRED MUSIC

 

112. The musical tradition of the universal Church is a treasure of inestimable value, greater even than that of any other art. The main reason for this pre-eminence is that, as sacred song united to the words, it forms a necessary or integral part of the solemn liturgy.

Holy Scripture, indeed, has bestowed praise upon sacred song [42], and the same may be said of the fathers of the Church and of the Roman pontiffs who in recent times, led by St. Pius X, have explained more precisely the ministerial function supplied by sacred music in the service of the Lord.

Therefore sacred music is to be considered the more holy in proportion as it is more closely connected with the liturgical action, whether it adds delight to prayer, fosters unity of minds, or confers greater solemnity upon the sacred rites. But the Church approves of all forms of true art having the needed qualities, and admits them into divine worship.

Accordingly, the sacred Council, keeping to the norms and precepts of ecclesiastical tradition and discipline, and having regard to the purpose of sacred music, which is the glory of God and the sanctification of the faithful, decrees as follows.

 

113. Liturgical worship is given a more noble form when the divine offices are celebrated solemnly in song, with the assistance of sacred ministers and the active participation of the people.

As regards the language to be used, the provisions of Art. 36 are to be observed; for the Mass, Art. 54; for the sacraments, Art. 63; for the divine office. Art. 101.

 

114. The treasure of sacred music is to be preserved and fostered with great care. Choirs must be diligently promoted, especially in cathedral churches; but bishops and other pastors of souls must be at pains to ensure that, whenever the sacred action is to be celebrated with song, the whole body of the faithful may be able to contribute that active participation which is rightly theirs, as laid down in Art. 28 and 30.

 

115. Great importance is to be attached to the teaching and practice of music in seminaries, in the novitiates and houses of study of religious of both sexes, and also in other Catholic institutions and schools. To impart this instruction, teachers are to be carefully trained and put in charge of the teaching of sacred music.

It is desirable also to found higher institutes of sacred music whenever this can be done.

Composers and singers, especially boys, must also be given a genuine liturgical training.

 

116. The Church acknowledges Gregorian chant as specially suited to the Roman liturgy: therefore, other things being equal, it should be given pride of place in liturgical services.

But other kinds of sacred music, especially polyphony, are by no means excluded from liturgical celebrations, so long as they accord with the spirit of the liturgical action, as laid down in Art. 30.

 

117. The typical edition of the books of Gregorian chant is to be completed; and a more critical edition is to be prepared of those books already published since the restoration by St. Pius X.

It is desirable also that an edition be prepared containing simpler melodies, for use in small churches.

 

118. Religious singing by the people is to be intelligently fostered so that in devotions and sacred exercises, as also during liturgical services, the voices of the faithful may ring out according to the norms and requirements of the rubrics.

 

119. In certain parts of the world, especially mission lands, there are peoples who have their own musical traditions, and these play a great part in their religious and social life. For this reason due importance is to be attached to their music, and a suitable place is to be given to it, not only in forming their attitude toward religion, but also in adapting worship to their native genius, as indicated in Art. 39 and 40.

Therefore, when missionaries are being given training in music, every effort should be made to see that they become competent in promoting the traditional music of these peoples, both in schools and in sacred services, as far as may be practicable.

 

120. In the Latin Church the pipe organ is to be held in high esteem, for it is the traditional musical instrument which adds a wonderful splendor to the Church's ceremonies and powerfully lifts up man's mind to God and to higher things.

But other instruments also may be admitted for use in divine worship, with the knowledge and consent of the competent territorial authority, as laid down in Art. 22, 52, 37, and 40. This may be done, however, only on condition that the instruments are suitable, or can be made suitable, for sacred use, accord with the dignity of the temple, and truly contribute to the edification of the faithful.

 

121. Composers, filled with the Christian spirit, should feel that their vocation is to cultivate sacred music and increase its store of treasures.

Let them produce compositions which have the qualities proper to genuine sacred music, not confining themselves to works which can be sung only by large choirs, but providing also for the needs of small choirs and for the active participation of the entire assembly of the faithful.

The texts intended to be sung must always be in conformity with Catholic doctrine; indeed they should be drawn chiefly from holy scripture and from liturgical sources.

 

 

CHAPTER VII

SACRED ART AND SACRED FURNISHINGS

 

122. Very rightly the fine arts are considered to rank among the noblest activities of man's genius, and this applies especially to religious art and to its highest achievement, which is sacred art. These arts, by their very nature, are oriented toward the infinite beauty of God which they attempt in some way to portray by the work of human hands; they achieve their purpose of redounding to God's praise and glory in proportion as they are directed the more exclusively to the single aim of turning men's minds devoutly toward God.

Holy Mother Church has therefore always been the friend of the fine arts and has ever sought their noble help, with the special aim that all things set apart for use in divine worship should be truly worthy, becoming, and beautiful, signs and symbols of the supernatural world, and for this purpose she has trained artists. In fact, the Church has, with good reason, always reserved to herself the right to pass judgment upon the arts, deciding which of the works of artists are in accordance with faith, piety, and cherished traditional laws, and thereby fitted for sacred use.

The Church has been particularly careful to see that sacred furnishings should worthily and beautifully serve the dignity of worship, and has admitted changes in materials, style, or ornamentation prompted by the progress of the technical arts with the passage of time.

Wherefore it has pleased the Fathers to issue the following decrees on these matters.

 

123. The Church has not adopted any particular style of art as her very own; she has admitted styles from every period according to the natural talents and circumstances of peoples, and the needs of the various rites. Thus, in the course of the centuries, she has brought into being a treasury of art which must be very carefully preserved. The art of our own days, coming from every race and region, shall also be given free scope in the Church, provided that it adorns the sacred buildings and holy rites with due reverence and honor; thereby it is enabled to contribute its own voice to that wonderful chorus of praise in honor of the Catholic faith sung by great men in times gone by.

 

124. Ordinaries, by the encouragement and favor they show to art which is truly sacred, should strive after noble beauty rather than mere sumptuous display. This principle is to apply also in the matter of sacred vestments and ornaments.

Let bishops carefully remove from the house of God and from other sacred places those works of artists which are repugnant to faith, morals, and Christian piety, and which offend true religious sense either by depraved forms or by lack of artistic worth, mediocrity and pretense.

And when churches are to be built, let great care be taken that they be suitable for the celebration of liturgical services and for the active participation of the faithful.

 

125. The practice of placing sacred images in churches so that they may be venerated by the faithful is to be maintained. Nevertheless their number should be moderate and their relative positions should reflect right order. For otherwise they may create confusion among the Christian people and foster devotion of doubtful orthodoxy.

 

126. When passing judgment on works of art, local ordinaries shall give a hearing to the diocesan commission on sacred art and, if needed, also to others who are especially expert, and to the commissions referred to in Art. 44, 45, and 46.

Ordinaries must be very careful to see that sacred furnishings and works of value are not disposed of or dispersed; for they are the ornaments of the house of God.

 

127. Bishops should have a special concern for artists, so as to imbue them with the spirit of sacred art and of the sacred liturgy. This they may do in person or through suitable priests who are gifted with a knowledge and love of art.

It is also desirable that schools or academies of sacred art should be founded in those parts of the world where they would be useful, so that artists may be trained.

All artists who, prompted by their talents, desire to serve God's glory in holy Church, should ever bear in mind that they are engaged in a kind of sacred imitation of God the Creator, and are concerned with works destined to be used in Catholic worship, to edify the faithful, and to foster their piety and their religious formation.

 

128. Along with the revision of the liturgical books, as laid down in Art. 25, there is to be an early revision of the canons and ecclesiastical statutes which govern the provision of material things involved in sacred worship. These laws refer especially to the worthy and well planned construction of sacred buildings, the shape and construction of altars, the nobility, placing, and safety of the eucharistic tabernacle, the dignity and suitability of the baptistery, the proper ordering of sacred images, embellishments, and vestments. Laws which seem less suited to the reformed liturgy are to be brought into harmony with it, or else abolished; and any which are helpful are to be retained if already in use, or introduced where they are lacking.

According to the norm of Art. 22 of this Constitution, the territorial bodies of bishops are empowered to adapt such things to the needs and customs of their different regions; this applies especially to the materials and form of sacred furnishings and vestments.

 

129. During their philosophical and theological studies, clerics are to be taught about the history and development of sacred art, and about the sound principles governing the production of its works. In consequence they will be able to appreciate and preserve the Church's venerable monuments, and be in a position to aid, by good advice, artists who are engaged in producing works of art.

 

130. It is fitting that the use of pontificals be reserved to those ecclesiastical persons who have episcopal rank or some particular jurisdiction.

 

 

 

APPENDIX

A DECLARATION OF THE SECOND ECUMENICAL COUNCIL OF THE VATICAN ON REVISION OF THE CALENDAR

 

The Second Ecumenical Sacred Council of the Vatican, recognizing the importance of the wishes expressed by many concerning the assignment of the feast of Easter to a fixed Sunday and concerning an unchanging calendar, having carefully considered the effects which could result from the introduction of a new calendar, declares as follows:

1. The Sacred Council would not object if the feast of Easter were assigned to a particular Sunday of the Gregorian Calendar, provided that those whom it may concern, especially the brethren who are not in communion with the Apostolic See, give their assent.

2. The sacred Council likewise declares that it does not oppose efforts designed to introduce a perpetual calendar into civil society.

But among the various systems which are being suggested to stabilize a perpetual calendar and to introduce it into civil life, the Church has no objection only in the case of those systems which retain and safeguard a seven-day week with Sunday, without the introduction of any days outside the week, so that the succession of weeks may be left intact, unless there is question of the most serious reasons. Concerning these the Apostolic See shall judge.

 

 

 

NOTES

[1] Secret of the ninth Sunday after Pentecost.

[2] Cf. Heb. 13:14.

[3] Cf. Eph. 2:21-22.

[4] Cf. Eph. 4:13.

[5] Cf. Is. 11:12.

[6] Cf. John 11:52.

[7] Cf. John 10:16.

[8] Cf. Is. 61:1; Luke 4:18.

[9] St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Ephesians, 7, 2.

[10] Cf. 1 Tim. 2:5.

[11] Sacramentarium Veronese (ed. Mohlberg), n. 1265; cf. also n. 1241, 1248.

[12] Easter Preface of the Roman Missal.

[13] Prayer before the second lesson for Holy Saturday, as it was in the Roman Missal before the restoration of Holy Week.

[14] Cf. Mark 16:15.

[15] Cf. Acts 26:18.

[16] Cf. Rom. 6:4; Eph. 2:6; Col. 3:1; 2 Tim. 2:11.

[17] Cf. John 4:23.

[18] Cf. 1 Cor. 11:26.

[19] Council of Trent, Session XIII, Decree on the Holy Eucharist, c.5.

[20] Council of Trent, Session XXII, Doctrine on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, c. 2.

[21] Cf. St. Augustine, Tractatus in Ioannem, VI, n. 7.

[22] Cf. Apoc. 21:2; Col. 3:1; Heb. 8:2.

[23] Cf. Phil. 3:20; Col. 3:4.

[24] Cf. John 17:3; Luke 24:27; Acts 2:38.

[25] Cf. Matt. 28:20.

[26] Postcommunion for both Masses of Easter Sunday.

[27] Collect of the Mass for Tuesday of Easter Week.

[28] Cf. 2 Cor. 6:1.

[29] Cf. Matt. 6:6.

[30] Cf . 1 Thess. 5:17.

[31] Cf . 2 Cor. 4:10-11.

[32] Secret for Monday of Pentecost Week.

[33] St. Cyprian, On the Unity of the Cathotic Church, 7; cf. Letter 66, n. 8, 3.

[34] Cf. Council of Trent, Session XXII, Doctrine on the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, c. 8.

[35] Cf. St. Ignatius of Antioch, To the Smyrnians, 8; To the Magnesians, 7; To the Philadelphians, 4.

[36] Cf. St. Augustine, Tractatus in Ioannem, VI, n. 13.

[37] Roman Breviary, feast of Corpus Christi, Second Vespers, antiphon to the Magnificat.

[38] Cf. St. Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on the Gospel of John, book XI, chap. XI-XII: Migne, Patrologia Graeca, 74, 557-564.

[39] Cf. 1 Tim. 2:1-2.

[40] Session XXI, July 16, 1562. Doctrine on Communion under Both Species, chap. 1-3: Condlium Tridentinum. Diariorum, Actorum, Epistolarum, Tractatuum nova collectio ed. Soc. Goerresiana, tome VIII (Freiburg in Br., 1919), 698-699.

[41] Council of Trent, Session XXIV, November 11, 1563, On Reform, chap. I. Cf. Roman Ritual, title VIII, chap. II, n. 6.

[42] Cf. Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16.

 

The author highlights the characteristics of religious art and the challenges facing contemporary religious architecture in providing appropriate responses. He emphasises the need to seek the transcendence of sacred space.