Pope Francis Calls Artists ‘Guardians of Beauty’ in the World

Artists
Hulton Archive/Getty Images
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

ROME — Pope Francis extolled the role of art and artists Saturday, asserting that true art keeps beauty alive and instils hope in those who contemplate it.

“Dear artists, in a special way you are guardians of beauty in our world,” the pontiff told a group of participants in this year’s Vatican Christmas Concert. “Yours is a lofty and demanding calling, one that requires pure and dispassionate hands capable of transmitting truth and beauty.”

The hands of the artist “instil joy in human hearts and are, in fact, a precious fruit that endures through time, unites generations and makes them share in a sense of wonder,” the pope said, citing his predecessor Saint Paul VI.

The enduring contribution of artists is especially important this year, Francis said, with the widespread suffering caused by the coronavirus pandemic and measures employed to contain it.

“Our world needs beauty in order not to sink into despair,” he proposed. “Amid the anxiety provoked by the pandemic, your creativity can be a source of light.”

The “perception and contemplation of beauty generates a sense of hope that can light up our world,” he declared, which can in turn “affect our way of relating to those all around us.”

“They generate empathy, the ability to understand others, with whom we have so much in common. We sense a bond with them, a bond no longer vague, but real and shared,” he said.

The first and primordial artist is God himself, who “contemplated his creation and saw that it was good,” Francis said. “Creation amazes us by its magnificence and variety, while at the same time making us realize, in the face of that grandeur, our own place in the world.”

The crisis has made “even denser the dark clouds over a closed world and this might seem to obscure the light of the divine, the eternal,” he added. “Let us not yield to that illusion, but seek the light of Christmas, which dispels the darkness of sorrow and pain.”

“Today, as always, that beauty appears to us in the lowliness of the Christmas crèche,” he said.

The pope’s reference to the Nativity scene unfortunately brought to mind the disconcerting ceramic figures that were unveiled in Saint Peter’s Square Friday, provoking confusion and disdain.

Numerous glorious works of art depicting the scene of Christ’s birth in a stable at Bethlehem have delighted and inspired generations of Christians and people of goodwill, but this year’s crèche is not among them.

Taken from a collection of statues crafted by high school students over 50 years ago in Italy, the hapless works — including an astronaut and a Darth Vaderesque figure — were somehow resurrected to adorn Saint Peter’s Square this year, a decision that has been met with worldwide derision.

COMMENTS

Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.