Pope Francis addresses artists in the Sistine Chapel
Last Friday, Pope Francis opened the doors of the Sistine Chapel to address an assembly of two hundred prominent artists. This occasion marked the fiftieth anniversary of the Vatican Museum’s modern and contemporary collection, and it mirrors a similar event from decades ago.
The 1960s and 1970s were a time of great change for many. This was especially true for the Catholic Church, which experienced more institutional change than it had in several centuries. The Second Vatican Council, called by Pope John XXIII in 1962, sought to bring the Church into the modern world. It resulted in priests being able to perform mass in the vernacular language rather than Latin, the expansion of laypeople’s role within the Church, and the opening of doors to interreligious dialogue. One of the ways that the Church opened itself up to the wider world was through the arts, particularly modern and contemporary art that it had often previously denounced. Fifty years ago, in 1973, Pope Paul VI opened the modern and contemporary collection of the Vatican Museums.
Paul VI had previously reached out to modern art earlier in his papacy, inviting artists to the Vatican. He assembled them in the Sistine Chapel and spoke of the significance of art and artists to the Church, much like his successor Francis last Friday. He also spoke of his desire to bridge the gap that had formed between the Church and the arts in recent years. The original thousand-piece collection of the Vatican Museums’ modern and contemporary section included works by Vincent van Gogh, Francis Bacon, Marc Chagall, and Henri Matisse. It has since swelled to an impressive 9,000-piece collection featuring religious art of all sorts.
But some artists were present on Friday that many may not have expected. The name that everyone seems to mention is Andres Serrano, the American photographer known for being the target of conservative culture warriors since the 1980s. Serrano gained public notoriety in 1987 when he debuted his photograph Piss Christ, featuring a crucifix submerged in a glass of his own urine. Many denounced the work as blasphemous, drawing the ire of senators Alfonse D’Amato and Jesse Helms after learning the work won an award partially sponsored by the National Endowment for the Arts. Serrano claims he never meant it as blasphemy and is a lifelong Catholic. At the event on Friday, Serrano said, “I was surprised to be invited and even more surprised that [the Pope] gave me a thumbs up”.
Also present for Pope Francis’s address were sculptor Anish Kapoor, painter Anselm Kiefer, and Abel Ferrara, director of the 2022 film Padre Pio. Francis told the crowd, “Like the biblical prophets, you confront things that at times are uncomfortable; you criticize today’s false myths and new idols, its empty talk, the ploys of consumerism, the schemes of power.”