The Pope gives a homily. Vatican opens doors to Russian ‘spiritual’ masterpieces for show
In an example of the “diplomacy of art”, the Vatican has inaugurated a landmark exhibit of “spiritual” masterpieces from Moscow’s famed Tretyakov Gallery and other Russian state galleries.
Some of the pieces, particularly a number of precious icons, have never been shown before outside of their home galleries, Barbara Jatta, director of the Vatican Museums, told reporters on November 19.
“It is an exhibit on Russian spirituality, the Russian soul,” she said at a news accompanied by the show’s two curators – Arcady Ippolitov of The State Hermitage Museum and Tatyana Udenkova – and the head of the State Tretyakov Gallery, Zelfira Tregulova.
The exhibit, ‘Pilgrimage of Russian Art: From Dionysius to Malevich’, is open and free to the public in the Vatican’s Braccio di Carlo Magno hall, just off St Peter’s Square, from November 20 to February 16.
It will showcase 54 masterpieces spanning from the 1400s to the 20th Century, including Wassily Kandinsky’s ‘Red Square in Moscow’, Ivan Kramskoi’s ‘Christ in the Wilderness’ and Dionysius’ 16th-Century icon ‘The Crucifixion’.
The show is intended as a response to a major 2016 exhibition in Moscow of art from the Vatican Museums.
“Beauty creates bridges,” Jatta said, adding that it brings different cultures closer together and reminds people they all belong to one human family.
Helping the poor is a duty, not a papal fad
Christians cannot stand by in the face of poverty, Pope Francis has said in his homily for the World Day of the Poor on November 18. “We Christians cannot stand with arms folded in indifference” or thrown up in the air in helpless resignation, he said, maintaining that “as believers, we must stretch out our hands as Jesus does with us”, freely and lovingly offering help to the poor and all those in need.
Noting that God always hears the cries of the poor, the Pope asked whether Christians do likewise. “Do we have eyes to see, ears to hear, hands outstretched to offer help?” he said, urging those present to hear the cries of the poor.
These, he said, include “the stifled cry of the unborn, of starving children, of young people more used to the explosion of bombs than happy shouts of the playground”, and the abandoned elderly, those who lack any support, refugees and “entire peoples deprived even of the great natural resources at their disposal”.
About 6,000 poor people attended the Mass at St Peter’s Basilica as special guests, along with volunteers and others who assist disadvantaged communities. Afterwards, the Pope joined some 1,500 poor people for a multi-course lunch, while parishes, schools and volunteer groups across Rome also offered a number of services and meals for the poor.
World ‘looks away’ from Christian persecution – Pope
Love for neighbour means being close to people, especially those facing oppression and violence for being Christian, and engaging in charitable work that reflects Christian values and promotes interreligious dialogue, Pope Francis has said.
Meeting with members of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem on November 16, the Pope said that “the tragic situations of Christians who are persecuted and killed in ever-increasing numbers” is plain to see, even if the world “too often turns and looks away”.
Christians face not only “martyrdom in blood” in countries where they are persecuted and killed for the Faith, but also a “white martyrdom” in democratic countries that try more subtly to stifle religious freedom and expression.