DICASTERY FOR CULTURE AND EDUCATION

PRESS RELEASE

On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the inauguration of the Vatican Museums Modern and Contemporary Art Collection, Friday 23 June 2023, Pope Francis will receive around 200 of the most distinguished contemporary creative figures: painters, sculptors, architects, writers, poets, musicians, directors and actors.

The audience, which will take place in the Sistine Chapel, is part of a series of papal meetings dedicated to artists, the first of which took place in 1964, when Paul VI asked for a renewal of the friendship between the Church and artists themselves.

The Holy Father’s wish is to celebrate the work and life of artists, highlighting their contribution to the construction of a sense of shared humanity and the promotion of common values.

The initiative confirms the role of the Dicastery for Culture and Education as promotor of relations between the Holy See and the world of culture, favouring dialogue as an indispensable tool of true encounter, reciprocal interaction and enrichment, so that enthusiasts of the arts, literature and culture, in all its forms, feel recognized by the Church as persons at the service of a sincere search for the true, the good and the beautiful.

The prefect of the Dicastery for Culture and Education, Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça, affirms that “we need to relaunch the experience of the Church as a friend of artists, interested in the questions that contemporary life poses to us (both the current ones, pressing with drama, as well as those so visionary that point to new possible futures) and willing to develop a richer dialogue and a growth in mutual understanding".

The event, promoted by the Dicastery for Culture and Education, is organized in collaboration with the Governorate of Vatican City State, the Vatican Museums and the Dicastery for Communication.

List of participants in alphabetical order

List of participants by nationality

ACCREDITATION PROCEDURES

Journalists and media workers who wish to interview the participants, at the Vatican Museums Lapidary Gallery in the Apostolic Palace, must apply within 24 hours of the event, exclusively via the Holy See Press Office online accreditation system, at: press.vatican.va/accreditamenti

Appointment for accredited journalists and media workers for the event: 7.30, at the Holy See Press Office (via della Conciliazione, 54).

Journalists and media workers admitted to the interviews may watch the audience onscreen.