Guido Reni, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, La Discesa dello Spirito Santo, ceiling of the Hall of the Ladies (detail), 1608, fresco, Vatican Apostolic Palace, © Musei Vaticani Guido Reni, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, La Discesa dello Spirito Santo, ceiling of the Hall of the Ladies (detail), 1608, fresco, Vatican Apostolic Palace, © Musei Vaticani

Vatican Museums: Beauty that Unites! 66

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.

Guido Reni, The Descent of the Holy Spirit, La Discesa dello Spirito Santo, ceiling of the Hall of the Ladies (detail), 1608, fresco, Vatican Apostolic Palace, © Musei Vaticani

© Musei Vaticani
© Musei Vaticani

Clearly the most efficacious kind of prayer
for gaining the divine protection is prayer
that is offered publicly by the whole community;
for Our Redeemer said:
"Where two or three are gathered together for my sake,
there am I in the midst of them."
The situation, therefore, demands that Christians today,
as in the days of the early Church,
shall be of "one heart and one soul."

(Pope John XXIII, Encyclical Penitentiam Agere) 

Under the direction of Paolo Ondarza
#BeautyThatUnites
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Facebook: @vaticannews

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06 September 2020, 08:30