Pope tells artists to convey true beauty to today’s world

(November 21, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday re-affirmed the Catholic Church’s bond and friendship with the world of artists, urging them to fearlessly communicate to the world of today the human heart’s yearning for true beauty, hope and happiness. The Pope held a meeting with some 260 artists from around the world at the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel, renowned for its 16th century masterpiece frescos of the Genesis and the Last Judgement scenes by Michelangelo. “I wish to express and renew the Church’s friendship with the world of art, a friendship that has been strengthened over time…,” the Pope told the gathering that included painters, sculptors, architects, photographers, dancers, musicians, actors and film directors. “You represent the varied world of the arts and so, through you, I would like to convey to all artists my invitation to friendship, dialogue and cooperation,” the Pope told them in the meeting that was called to mark the 10th anniversary of Pope John Paul II's letter to artists and the 45th anniversary of Pope Paul VI's meeting with artists. Pope Benedict called on the world’s artists to communicate hope to the world assuring them that faith takes nothing away from their genius or their art. “Too often,” he explained, “the beauty that is thrust upon us is illusory and deceitful, superficial and blinding, leaving the onlooker dazed… depriving him of hope and joy.” “It is a seductive but hypocritical beauty that rekindles desire, the will to power, to possess, and to dominate others, it is a beauty which soon turns into its opposite, taking on the guise of indecency, transgression or gratuitous provocation.” On the other hand, the Holy Father urged the artists to promote authentic beauty that unlocks the yearning of the human heart, the profound desire to know, to love, to go towards the Other, to reach for the Beyond. Calling artists the “custodians of beauty”, he urged them to be “the heralds and witnesses of hope for humanity!”