Vatican
City, 5 February 2013
(VIS) - This morning in the Holy See Press Office, Archbishop Rino
Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New
Evangelisation, announced details of the exhibit "The Path of
Peter" (Castel Sant'Angelo, 6 February–1
May 2013) that will be opened at 6:00pm tomorrow by Cardinal
Secretary of State Tarcisio Bertone S.D.B. Also participating in the
press conference were Don Alessio Geretti, curator of the exhibit,
and Daniela Porro, superintendent of the Consortium of Roman Museums.
The exhibit, one of the initiatives of the Year of Faith, is a
collaborative effort between nine countries and will include pieces
ranging from the 4th
and 5th
centuries all the way to the beginning of the 20th
century.
"First
of all, it's good to explain the 'why' of this exhibit," said
the archbishop. "Faith isn't just the commitment of believers.
It expresses humanity's need to look within in order to understand
the desire for God that is inscribed on the heart of each person.
This cultural moment we are living in is strongly characterized by
contradictory movements ... On the one hand it seems that there is a
general feeling of fatigue and indifference that even affects our
faith. It makes it seem limited to a small group of persons and as if
it no longer held any appeal to the new generations. On the other
hand, there is the excessive enthusiasm for scientific progress and
new lifestyles as if these were the solutions to today's serious
problems. Not infrequently in this case, we come to the claim that it
is good to limit faith's sphere to the private, denying its social or
cultural effect. At the same time, however, it is easy to see that
the desire to enjoy the beauty of nature and works of art is
constantly increasing. … Today, fortunately, we are still looking
for something that is more important and more profound, because the
spirit is moved by the desire to know and to admire … seeking to
contemplate a beauty that is not transient because it has created
culture and extends through the centuries, always arousing wonder and
marvel for the genius of the artist and for what they have known how
to create, motivated by their faith and their interpretive
abilities."
"It
is precisely to reinforce this desire and to give voice to the
nostalgia for God, often latent in many persons," the prelate
continued, "that we have decided to organize this exhibit as a
journey through the centuries to come to know one of the persons who
has always stimulated the minds of artists to try to understand his
mystery and give it voice. We wanted to narrate 'The Path of Peter'
in art … Peter is the image of humanity that seeks and that finds
and that, after having found, follows. Unfortunately he is also weak
and commits betrayal but he still knows how to ask forgiveness. Moved
by love, by a unique and sweeping experience, he leaves everything
behind in order to proclaim the mystery of Christ's Resurrection to
the world. It is a true journey of faith, without rest, that artists
have captured … in many works that witness to its beauty."
"This
exhibit is a path for growing in faith but it is also a challenge to
recognize the necessity of believing as a response to the question of
meaning that life poses. Looking upon the work of art, believers and
non-believers have different reactions, but beauty expresses a call
to one and all to listen to the message that can be perceived in the
silence of contemplation. … This is one of the reasons why we
thought that the exhibit shouldn't take place in a religious space
but in an open space where all might have access without prejudices,
moved only by the interest in art. True art, on the other hand, knows
how to challenge us and it's good not to force one's hand with too
many words so as not to run the risk of trivializing its message."
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