The Pontiff remarked that “if there is beauty, it is because God is good and He gives us beauty, and it gives us joy, it reassures us, it does us good.”
Vatican City (17/02/2022 12:18, Gaudium Press) On Thursday 17, Pope Francis received about one hundred members of the ‘Diaconie de la Beauté’. The French association serves artists and the Church, giving meaning to art in all its forms and transmitting the desire for beauty. The Pontiff received them in an Audience at the Clementine room.
In his speech, marking ten years since the Diaconie’s foundation, the Holy Father recalled how “Sacred Scripture tells us a great deal about the beauty of the universe and all that it contains, and leads us, by analogy, to the beauty of the Creator. It also remind us that each one of us is called by nature to be a craftsman and guardian of this beauty. In a way, artistic work complements the beauty of creation and, when inspired by Faith, reveals more clearly to people the divine love that lies at its origin.”
Beauty can create communion
The Pontiff took the opportunity to thank the members of the Diaconie de la Beauté for their work over these ten years in which they have made available “the talents they have received from God, expressing in the languages of art precious messages for faith and evangelization.”
“Beauty is capable of creating communion, because it unites God, man and creation in a single symphony; because it unites past, present and future; because it draws different peoples and distant nations to the same place and involves them in the same gaze,” he assured.
“The authentic artist is capable of speaking of God better than anyone else”
Francis stressed that artists are not limited by time, because their art speaks to all ages; neither is it limited by space. Beauty can touch in each person what is universal – mainly the thirst for God – traversing the borders of languages and cultures.
The authentic artist can speak of God better than anyone else, to make people perceive his beauty and goodness, to “reach the human heart and make the truth and goodness of the Risen Lord shine in it.”
Beauty is always a source of joy
Francis then reflected on a passage from the “Letter to Artists,” in which St. John Paul II says that “In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art. Art must make perceptible, and as far as possible attractive, the world of the spirit, of the invisible, of God. It must therefore translate into meaningful terms that which is in itself ineffable. Art has a unique capacity to take one or other facet of the message and translate it into colours, shapes and sounds which nourish the intuition of those who look or listen.”
Finally, the Pope urged the members of the Diaconie de la Beauté “to cultivate their art, which speaks to the men and women of our time, concerned always that there be some understanding on their part, for an incomprehensible and hermetic art does not fulfil its purpose. Try to touch what is best in them.”
“Beauty is always a source of joy, putting us in touch with divine goodness. If there is beauty it is because God is good and He gives us beauty, and it gives us joy, reassures us, does us good. Contact with beauty always elevates us, beauty makes us go beyond,” he concluded. (EPC)
Compiled by Gustavo Kralj
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