Cardinal Paul Poupard, the President of the Pontifical Council for Culture, explained on Radio Vatican why the "path of beauty" is necessary for the proclamation of the Gospel:
“With a spirit of suspicion hanging over truth and goodness, via pulchritudinis, the path of beauty, is now more than ever a necessity. It fosters the faith of the people making them capable to witness to their faith and this, obviously not only during liturgical celebrations, but also throughout life in general.”
Q-Is evangelizing through the Arts still relevant today in our materialistic culture?
“Of course it is, and I repeat myself,” responded Cardinal Poupard, “now more than ever. The more materialistic a culture is, the more it is necessary to be a witness. Recently in Paris, in Vienna last year, and in earlier years in Lisbon, Brussels and Budapest, I spoke about this need to evangelize through the Arts. I said the same thing in South Africa last week.”
Q- But do the Arts need faith?
"This is precisely the requirement proposed by the Holy Father in his Letter to the Artists when he wrote: “Faith needs the Arts.”
He confirmed this very simply and continued: "But do the Arts need faith?" And he answered: “Yes, I believe they do because faith broadens the horizon in an amazing way, by the revelation of God the Father, Jesus, our God who became our brother, and the Holy Spirit. In the Arts, as we all know, any real artist goes beyond the world in which he is immersed like we all are. The more materialistic a culture is, the more it needs to breathe oxygen that gives us faith. It needs this oxygen for its own breathing.”
Q-What is your opinion about the relationship between the freedom of the Arts and human dignity?
“We say: ‘Freedom to do what?’ Aesthetic freedom is not an end in itself. Freedom is at the service and a component of human dignity. The relationship is, I would say, ontological. There is absolutely no opposition, but rather human dignity and freedom of artistic expression reciprocally nurture each other.”
Q-Do you think one can "convert" before a work of Art?
“This is the secret of the conscience. Conversion is always the work of the Holy Spirit who uses many different ways that one has often never even imagined. However, sudden conversions have also had some preparation and we can say that the "via pulchritudinis," the path of beauty is one of those privileged paths.”
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(November 9, 2004, at the Vatican,
at the ninth public meeting of the Pontifical Academies)
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