Lenten initiative receives Vatican support

(Feb. 22, 2012) A Lenten arts project of the Archdiocese of Glasgow in Scotland has received the official sanction of Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi of Vatican’s Pontifical Council of Culture. The project, entitled “Lentfest,” is an arts festival designed to provide a forum whereby artists can explore the faith through music, visual arts and theater.Archbishop Mario Conti of Glasgow, founder of Lentfest says that in the Lenten arts project the Church proposes to a wide audience various aspects of the Christian message of liberation and beauty, of freedom and forgiveness of hope and redemption. Cardinal Ravasi expressed his support for the project in an official letter to Archbishop Conti. He said the Pontifical Council of Culture has a unique viewpoint on the diverse experiences of Christian communities throughout the world as they engage with their own cultures, building on the longstanding traditions which have seen the Church involved in the joys and hopes, fears and anxieties of men and women in their cultures, as a sponsor and patron, as friend and focal point for the light of the Gospel. The event was launched at the University of Glasgow, the institution founded in 1451 by Pope Nicholas V.