"To all those who seek a New Epiphany of beauty, as an offering to the world of artistic creation."
The Church has never ceased to nurture a great regard for Art as such. Indeed, even beyond its most typically religious expressions, Art, when it is authentic, has a deep affinity with the world of faith, to such an extent that, even when culture moves considerably away from the Church, it continues to be a sort of bridge thrown over to religious experience.
Every single artist is in some way, a voice of the universal waiting for Redemption...
Because he seeks beauty, the fruit of an imagination that goes beyond the ordinary, Art is by its essence, a mysterious calling. Even when Art scans the most obscure depths of the soul or the most shattering aspects of evil, the artist represents to some extent the voice of the universal waiting for Redemption.
Thus we understand why the Church is particularly keen to keep a dialogue with Art and why she tries to achieve, in this era, a new alliance with artists. It is felt that such collaboration can give rise to a new “Epiphany” of beauty in our time and give suitable answers to the requirements of the Christian Community.
(Excerpt of the Pontifical message, during the Jubilee for the Artists, in Rome, 2000)
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