L'EDIFICIO DI CULTO E GLI ARTISTI BILANCI E PROSPETTIVE

A 25 anni dal primo Giubileo degli Artisti (2000-2025)

Twenty-five years after the first Jubilee of Artists, it seems appropriate to reflect on how Pope St. John Paul II's invitation to renew the alliance between the Church and artists, expressed in his Letter to Artists of 4 April 1999, has been understood, received and accepted. An invitation that reiterates the call already formulated by Pope St. Paul VI in his Homily during the Mass for Artists on 7 May 1964, and that finds continuity in his Successors, Benedict XVI (Speech, 21 November 2009) and Francis (Speech, 23 June 2023).

The aim of the conference will be to reflect (‘Balances’) on how artists (architects, painters, sculptors, etc.) have been able to respond, when called upon to deal with art for the liturgy, in the realisation of architecture, art, movable and immovable furnishings, for the cult. At the same time, there is a desire to open a window on the future of sacred art (Perspectives), taking into account “a healthy tradition and legitimate progress” (Vatican Council II, Const. Sacrosanctum Concilium, 23), in the conviction that “tradition is a living reality, therefore it includes in itself the principle of development” (Benedict XVI, Address, 6 May 2011).