JOHN PAUL II INAUGURATES COMPLETELY RESTORED SISTINE CHAPEL

VATICAN CITY, DEC 11, 1999 (VIS) - Pope John Paul this morning inaugurated the Sistine Chapel, completely restored after 20 years of work on the renowned ceiling and Last Judgement by Michelangelo and the frescoes on the side walls, depicting scenes from the lives of Christ and Moses and painted by Perugino, Botticelli, Pinturicchio, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli and Signorelli.

He spoke to the invited guests of the "full splendor" of this chapel which "is very dear to the faithful of the world, not only for the masterpieces it houses but for the role it has in the life of the Church. Here, in fact - I recall with emotion - the election of the Successor of Peter takes place."

The Pope mentioned the completion, in 1994, of the restoration of the ceiling and the Last Judgment, "the works of Michelangelo which undoubtedly give the tone to this room and which in a certain sense consume it, such is their grandeur. They go right up to the ultimate horizon of Christian theology, pointing to the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the judgement, the mystery of creation and that of history, all of which converge on Christ, Savior and judge of the world."

John Paul II then spoke specifically of the final phase of restoration in the Sistine Chapel, that of the frescoes on the side walls which depict, six to a side, parallel scenes from the life of Moses and that of Christ. These walls were completed in 1482, and in fact, predate by 30 years the ceiling by Michelangelo, which was finished in 1512. He began the Last Judgement in the spring of 1536 and completed it on October 31, 1541. He termed the 12 scenes depicted "a sort of 'lectio divina' in which, even more than the single biblical episodes, what emerges is the unity of Scriptures, the Old and the New Testaments."

"What is evident," he added, "is that everything gravitates around Christ. ... These decorations are, therefore, a hymn to Christ. Everything leads to Him. Everything finds its fullness in Him."

The Holy Father observed that "the centrality of Christ is not overshadowed, but rather highlighted by the role He attributes to the apostles, and to Peter in particular." Perugino's painting, he said, underlines not only "the fullness of authority conferred on the first of the apostles," but "the touching expression of humility on Peter's face when he receives the sign of his ministry."

AC;SISTINE CHAPEL...VIS 19991213 (390);...;