Vatican Museum: Beauty that Unites! 55

Beauty creates communion. It unites onlookers from a distance, uniting past, present and future. Pope Francis has recalled this on a number of occasions. The Church has always translated the universality of the Good News into the language of art. From this premise, this dramatic moment in history characterized by uncertainty and isolation, gives rise to this initiative which is a partnership between the Vatican Museum and Vatican News: Masterpieces from the Vatican Collection accompanied by comments from the words of the Popes.

Cenni di Francesco, (c. 1369-1415), Crucifixion, Vatican Museums, Pinacoteca, © Musei Vaticani

O sweetest Jesus, whose overflowing charity
towards men is most ungratefully repaid
by such great forgetfulness, neglect and contempt,
see, prostrate before Thy altars,
we strive by special honor to make amends
for the wicked coldness of men and
the contumely with which Thy most loving Heart
is everywhere treated. Receive, we beseech Thee,
O most benign Jesus, by the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, the Reparatress,
the voluntary homage of this expiation,
and vouchsafe, by that great gift of final perseverance,
to keep us most faithful until death in our duty
and in Thy service, so that at length
we may all come to that fatherland,
where Thou with the Father and the Holy Ghost
livest and reignest God for ever and ever.

(Pope Pius XI, Act of Reparation to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, Encyclical Miserentissimus Redemptor, 1928 )

Under the direction of: Paolo Ondarza

#Beautythatunites
@vaticanmuseums
#vaticannews

Thank you for reading our article. You can keep up-to-date by subscribing to our daily newsletter. Just click here