Pope Francis and the Gospel of Beauty: A Legacy for Artists and the Church

Pope Francis addressed approximately 200 prominent artists and other creative people from more than 30 countries in the Sistine Chapel on June 23, 2023. (Photo: Vatican Media)

We will deviate from our monthly meditations on art to contemplate the long line of popes, their relationship to art throughout the history of the Church, and Pope Francis’ impact in this lineage.

"In true beauty, we begin to experience the desire for God."– Pope Francis, Message to Artists, 2023

It would be no exaggeration to say that for over a millennium, popes have shaped Western culture — and by extension, the world — through the beauty of art. Without the influence of the Catholic Church, the great museums of the world would look very different today. Every man entrusted with the keys of the Kingdom has also inherited the profound duty of safeguarding the Church’s ever-growing treasury of sacred art and nurturing her enduring relationship with artists. 

Early Popes and Art

We all may have heard the expression being an iconoclast. The phrase reaches all the way back to the Byzantine Empire in the 700s, when iconoclasts opposed icons’ use and veneration in church life, arguing that they were a form of idolatry and actively worked to remove or destroy religious images.

This was a significant theological and political issue in the empire, and the Church responded with the Second Council of Nicaea. In October 787, the Council Fathers issued a declaration of faith concerning holy images and their veneration by the faithful, determining that:

“As the sacred and life-giving Cross is everywhere set up as a symbol, so also should the images of Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, the holy angels, as well as those of the saints and other pious and holy men be embodied in the manufacture of sacred vessels, tapestries, vestments, … For the more they are contemplated, the more they move to fervent memory of their prototypes. Therefore, it is proper to accord to them a fervent and reverent veneration, not, however, the veritable adoration which, according to our faith, belongs to the Divine Being alone — for the honor accorded to the image passes over to its prototype, and whoever venerate the image venerate in it the reality of what is there represented.”

In other words, the image necessarily points us to what it represents. We take this understanding for granted today — we don’t adore family photos because they’re images, but because they connect us to the person in the image, and it is the person whom we love. Since this declaration of faith, the Church and her popes have consistently used art to further the faith.

A Renaissance of Faith and Beauty

Let’s jump ahead to Renaissance Italy. In 1508, Pope Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel. He also hired Raphael to decorate the Vatican’s Stanze di Raffaello, and laid the foundation stone for the rebuilding of St. Peter’s Basilica. Between 1513 and 1521, Pope Leo X supported Raphael, da Vinci and many others. His patronage ushered in a golden age of remarkable Renaissance art.

Pope Paul III (1534–1549) commissioned Michelangelo’s Last Judgment on the altar wall of the Sistine Chapel (which we will keep coming back to) and supported Titian, a master of the Venetian school.

Today, you literally cannot throw a rock in Rome (but please don’t!) without hitting art that was commissioned by the Catholic Church. Popes not only commissioned works that continue to draw millions each year, but also established the Vatican Museums, which preserve an ever-growing collection of irreplaceable masterpieces, an actual treasure trove. In the Renaissance and today, Vatican workshops provided stable employment for artists and craftsmen and safeguarded traditional techniques.

Papal Messages to Artists Over the Years

Throughout history, popes have addressed artists with their letters and teachings. More recently, in 1964, Pope Paul VI called for a meeting with artists to be held in the Sistine Chapel. He stated, "We need you. Our ministry needs your collaboration." He rekindled the dialogue between the Church and artists after a long period of distance and cultural upheaval.

Pope St. John Paul II wrote a letter to artists on Easter Sunday of 1999, encouraging them in their unique role as “revealing beauty and truth.” He spoke not just to Christian artists but “all artists of good will,” addressing the message "to all who are passionately dedicated to the search for new epiphanies of beauty so that through their creative work as artists they may offer these as gifts to the world." He spoke about creativity as a divine spark that can lead humanity closer to truth — a message that touched me deeply as a young artist. I felt as though he saw me, and my heart was kindled with a deep sense of hope and purpose when I read his letter.

A decade later, in 2009, Pope Benedict XVI met with artists again in the Sistine Chapel, where he reaffirmed the Church's admiration of and need for beauty and creativity. He encouraged artists to be "custodians of beauty," calling them to help build the kingdom of God with their gifts.

Pope Francis, Art and the Beauty of the Gospel

Each pope has left a mark on our Church and her people, and our recently deceased Pope Francis is no different.

In 2013, Francis oversaw the Vatican’s first Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions. He was also the first pontiff to attend the Biennale in 2024. For centuries, the “art world” existed under the roof of the Catholic Church. This changed with the onset of the Enlightenment, and the rifts only deepened through the twentieth century. Pope Francis's participation in the Biennale was a step towards dialogue where dialogue had been broken.

In 2023, fifty years after the opening of the Vatican Museums’ Collection of Modern Art, and almost sixty years after Paul VI’s first Meeting with Artists, Pope Francis called for another meeting in (you guessed it!) the Sistine Chapel. He invited 200 contemporary artists to the Vatican, including painters, filmmakers, sculptors, and composers from around the world — even non-Catholic and non-religious artists. While so many of these artists have blessed the world with their gifts, it is easy to scoff at some of those who were invited, especially whose work can be considered sacrilegious. However, Christ calls us to remember that these people are still children of God who need to be called back — and, in some cases, introduced — to the house of our Father.

Pope Francis spoke to them of the importance of dreaming, of being childlike in exploring their imagination, which, through art, leads to a deeper understanding of reality for the world. He brought attention to the seriousness of their mission as artists, saying, “As visionaries, men and women of discernment, critical consciences, I consider you allies in so many things that are dear to me, like the defense of human life, social justice, concern for the poor, care for our common home, universal human fraternity.

“I hope and pray that your works will prove worthy of the women and men of this earth, and render glory to God who is the Father of all and whom all seek, also through the testimony of works of art,” he continued.

The general sentiment from the artists after the meeting was that they had been deeply honored. Many commented on being moved by the setting of the Sistine Chapel, and several spoke of being reminded of the enduring partnership between faith and art. They felt seen.

This brought me to tears: the relationship between artists and the Church that has been severed in so many ways over the last several centuries began to mend in some hearts when the Father invited them back in. And they came! Pope Francis reminded them of the value of their work, but also of their value. He called them to a higher expression of who they were created to be. I can’t think of a more merciful thing to do; it’s something right out of the Gospel. And to me, that was the heart of Francis.  

Pope Francis leaves this torch burning, like we all do, for the next person to pick up where he left off. May God have mercy on his soul, and may he rest in the peace and beauty of the house our Father has prepared for him. Amen.