Pope to artists: A true symphony comes through differences

By Kielce Gussie

On the morning of December 7, ahead of the Concert with the Poor at the Vatican, Pope Francis praised the “beauty of music that unites hearts and elevates the spirit” in an audience with the promoters and artists of the event.

The beauty of music

As the audience opened, a child began to cry and, in response, the Pope used it as an exampe that "even children, when they cry, make music."

A concert, he described, is “a beautiful parable, a parable of harmony” that the Church is “striving to live more fully.” In an orchestra, there are multiple instruments and voices each with their own part. But, each member “must harmonize with the others” to make the beauty of music. 

Pope Francis likened the world to an orchesta where “each person is called to express themselves, to play their part alongside everyone else.” He stressed that silences and dissonances are just as important because “God does not create waste.”

Harmony requires presence

Yet this parable of harmony can only be achieved when each person chooses to be present. “It is not a given,” the Pope said. He acknowledged that everyone at the audience has chosen to “take part in this event with people in need, who struggle every day to move forward.” This choice, he explained, “creates a sign of hope.” This is the message of the upcoming Jubilee: to make signs of hope starting from love. 

Differences make a true symphony

A true symphony can only be achieved through the collaboration of everyone, Pope Francis encouraged. Only when a concert consists of different people can a harmony that "builds up and comforts everyone" be achieved. 

One artist presenting a painting to the Pope

Tying it all together, Pope Francis pointed out that the Concert with the Poor is a prime example of synodal harmony as it is “in communion with our most vulnerable brothers and sisters.” These “friends of ours” are the protagonists of the concert. Beauty, the Pope described, “is a gift from God for all human beings, united by the same dignity and called to brotherhood.”