Pope to meet artists to rekindle faith-art dialogue

(September 11, 2009) Pope Benedict XVI has invited hundreds of artists to meet him in the Vatican in an attempt to rekindle the special historical relationship between faith and art. More than 500 personalities from the worlds of art, theater, literature and music have been asked to gather with the pope under the legendary Michelangelo frescoes in the Sistine Chapel on Nov. 21. Archbishop Gianfranco Ravasi, president of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Culture, said the meeting was to be the first of many initiatives aimed at bridging the gap that has developed between spirituality and artistic expression over the last century or so. At a news conference in the Vatican on Thursday, Archbishop Ravasi said that the church hoped that dialogue could help artists regain the "transcendence" that once inspired the 16th-century painter and sculptor Michelangelo, his contemporaries and countless other artists of religious works over the centuries. The guest list for the papal encounter is comprised of people who have made their mark in visual arts, architecture, literature, poetry, music and performing arts, including theater, dance, cinema and television.