Encouragement from Pope Francis to Artists
Early in the wee hours of Easter Monday morning, I was groggily nursing my daughter when the snooze on my husband’s early morning alarm went off. He, too, groggily lifted himself up to turn it off – when suddenly he turned to me, phone in hand.
“Pope Francis died.”
That moment etched itself in my mind permanently. The clock read 4:07am; I went from being half-awake to fully up within milliseconds.
And that was how I found out that Pope Francis passed into eternity. His papacy has been wildly celebrated by as many who wildly criticize it. I have found myself in the middle, recognizing his humanity in an office that must be unimaginably heavy to bear. Here, I do not wish to focus on any of the hot topics that have surrounded his papacy since he was appointed pope in 2013. I’m not a theologian (though I would have liked to have been in another life), and I can’t pretend to be an expert in matters pertaining any of the social justice causes that were close to Pope Francis’s heart. However, I am a musician and an artist. Pope Francis left us a beautiful address to artists in 2023 that I only became aware of after his death (or perhaps rediscovered – the brain fog that seems to be a side effect of pregnancy took a major toll on me). And so, I would like to share with you some of Pope Francis’s words to artists. I have found them incredibly encouraging, and I hope they will edify you as well.
“With your talents, you bring to light something exceptional; you enrich the world with something new. I think of those words found in the Prophet Isaiah, where God says: “Behold, I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Is 43:19). In the Book of Revelation, God says the same thing: “See, I am making all things new” (21:15). The creativity of the artist can thus be said to share in God’s own passion for creation, the passion with which he created. You are sharers in God’s dream!”
“Neither art nor faith can leave things simply as they are: they change, transform, move and convert them.”
“Beauty is a sign of fullness; it makes us spontaneously say of something: “How beautiful!” Beauty makes us sense that life is directed towards fullness, fulfilment. In true beauty, we begin to experience the desire for God.”
“If I may say so, harmony is the operative virtue of beauty, its deepest spirit, where the Spirit of God, the great harmonizer of the world, is at work. Harmony exists when elements different from each other nonetheless form a unity, different from each of the parts and different from the sum of the parts. This is not easy; only the Spirit can make this possible: differences that do not become conflicts, but mutually integrating diversities, and unity that is not uniformity but open to multiplicity. As at Pentecost, harmony works these miracles.”
“When we see the work of the Spirit, which creates harmony from differences without destroying or standardizing them but bringing them into harmony, we come to understand what beauty really is. Beauty is that work of the Spirit which creates harmony. Brothers and sisters, let your artistic genius pursue this course!”
“Before taking leave of you, I have one more thing to say to you, something close to my heart. I would like to ask you not to forget the poor, those especially close to the heart of Christ, those affected by all of today’s many forms of poverty. The poor too have need of art and beauty.”
“I hope and pray that your works will prove worthy of the women and men of this earth, and render glory to God who is the Father of all and whom all seek, also through the testimony of works of art.”
Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,
and let perpetual light shine upon them.
May the souls of all the faithful departed,
through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Pope Francis, requiescat in pace.
If you would like to read the full address Pope Francis gave to artists, you can do so here.
